Trampled Butterflies
by Ardent Aspen
Summary: When MECH tampers with the past in an attempt to gain an advantage over the future, the present is thrown wildly out of balance. The Autobots and the kids must find each other again before they are erased from existence entirely. Throw in some superstitious peasants, four warring tribes of Cybertronians, and a power-hungry magistrate, and you've got the makings of an adventure!
1. Chapter 1

**Brand new story, everyone! Ohhhhh...I have got some butterflies in my stomach, I can tell you! Ah well, best to get it over with. Welcome to Trampled Butterflies!**

**A brief note: the "Cybertronian" language I use here is a mixture of the Nez Perce words I've been using in "Mirrors" and bold print **

**Some vocab as follows, pronunciations are pretty much guessed at by me:**

**T'o't: Sire/Father. Can be used literally or as a term of great respect (TOH-eh-TAH)**

**I'ts'a: Carrier/Mother. Can be literal, or a term of great respect (EET-sah)**

**Y'ats'a: informal for elder brother, can be a term of endearment (YAHT-sah)**

**Piyep: formal for elder brother, can be a term of respect (PEE-yep)**

**Nene': informal for elder sister, can be a term of endearment (NAY-neh)**

**K'anis: younger sister, can be a term of endearment (KAHN-iss)**

**Ask'up: formal for younger brother (AHSK-up)**

**Atsk'a: informal for younger brother, can be a term of endearment (AHT-skah)**

**Aahroh: I understand, or very good (aah-ROH)**

**Je: no (ZHEH)**

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_Butterfly Effect_

Chapter 1

"Autobots, return fire!" Optimus thundered, cannons ablaze. What had begun as a simple reconnaissance mission had once more devolved into a brawl. "You know, I think we should just make it a new rule," Ratchet groused as he knelt behind a half destroyed wall and tended to a mesh wound on Bumblebee's leg, "Jack and Arcee aren't allowed to go scouting anymore. They're more danger-prone than _Miko_!" A bi-colored head popped up from a drain grate at their pedes. "I'll have you know that I take offense to that," Miko joked, waving a wrench at the medic. He made a shooing motion and she ducked underground once more with a lively chuckle.

Below the surface of the battleground, Jack, Raf, and Miko crawled through cement tunnels armed with only small flashlights. "Well guys," Jack sighed from the front of the small procession, "At least we haven't had any rain in a while. We could be crawling through sludge!" Behind him, Rafael made a gagging noise. "_Yecch_! Don't remind me!" They passed another junction of pipes and Miko scratched an arrow into the rock with her wrench. "How far to MECH's main lab?" she asked quietly, crouching to rejoin the boys. Raf pushed himself up on his elbows to adjust his glasses. "Should be about another three junctions, then we bear left."

Jack held a hand to his ear, activating the tiny comm devices each human had been given. "Arcee, how are things looking up there?" Above ground, Arcee dodged a blast from a tank and kicked over a jeep to act as a temporary shield. "Give it a couple more minutes, Jack. They're mad, but not mad enough to empty the base." She ducked as a lucky shot hit the fuel tank of the jeep, lighting it on fire. Quickly, the femme transformed and rolled out in reverse, barely escaping the blast. MECH agents swarmed the Autobots, firing their laser rifles repeatedly. "Arcee! What is the strike team's status?" Optimus asked calmly, brushing soldiers aside like ants. "Almost to the objective, Optimus, but they need a safe entry point." Arcee drove up to transform and stand by her leader.

Optimus nodded sharply. "Understood. Take Bumblebee and Ratchet and regroup near the eastern wall. Bulkhead and I will divert and contain the remainder of MECH, then we will join you." Arcee saluted and, after firing a warning shot past a fellow who thought he was a bit braver than his comrades, transformed and retreated. Optimus threw an arm up to shield his optics as MECH began employing flash grenades in an attempt to disorient the Autobots. Bulkhead scattered them with a blow from his wrecking ball and snorted. "You guys might actually like lens flare more than J. !" he chuckled. Catching Optimus's questioning look, he cleared his throat. "I'll, uh, explain later."

In the tunnels, the kids crouched beside a large grate in the wall, peering through the slats. "I count three, maybe five guys," Miko whispered, "Standard fare: face mask, light body armor, and a souped up gun. Too bad we left the Apex Armor with Smokey and Magnus back home!" Optimus Prime's voice suddenly crackled over their individual comms. "I am sending backup to your coordinates. Wait until the area is clear before proceeding to deactivate the device. Under no circumstances are you to engage the enemy. Is that clear?" The three quickly confirmed that they understood and readied themselves to enter the main lab. "From this point on, we don't want MECH knowing what we're up to," Raf cautioned, "I recommend switching to Cybertronian now."

Each human reached back to a chip connected to their comms behind their right ears. It was a technological experiment: a joint project between Ratchet and Unit E to improve stealth. The chip would temporarily reconfigure the wearer's brain patterns and vocal cords to be able to use the Cybertronian language as easily as their native tongue. It never lasted more than a few hours at a time, but so far it had been very useful. The wall buckled and bowed inwards as Arcee, Ratchet and Bumblebee burst through to chase out the remaining agents. "All clear**,**" the medic grunted, waving the strike team through the grate. Jack hopped out and turned to help the others. "**Okay Raf, let's find that time machine before someone does something rash.**"

It wasn't hard to find. Human technology being what it was, it took up an entire wall. Raf darted up to the control panel and began looking for a kill switch. "**We're at the device, commencing shutdown**," he spoke rapidly into his comm as his fingers flew over the keyboard. Miko snatched up a fallen blaster and covered the doors alongside the other Autobots. Outside there was a horrific screeching of distressed metal followed by a low boom. Optimus and Bulkhead entered through the hangar doors shortly thereafter, slight scorched but whole. "MECH?" Ratchet asked. "Contained," Optimus answered shortly.

He and Bulkhead had managed to tear the massive satellite dish from its frame and upend it over the corralled soldiers, trapping them under the dome. The Wrecker whistled. "Look at this hunk of junk! What would a human want to go messing with the laws of time and space for? It ain't natural!" Suddenly a shot echoed through the silo and Raf jumped away from the smoking panel. "**Are you alright, Rafael**?" Optimus asked, concerned. "**I'm alright, T'o't!**" the boy answered with a tight smile. Satisfied, the Autobots returned their attention to the mystery shooter. "You do realize you just sabotaged your own machine, don't you?" Jack called out, a touch of a smirk in his voice.

"It still works!" a voice snapped. It was Gunner, Silas's right-hand man. He peppered the command deck with gunfire, forcing the humans to take cover behind the Autobots as he sprinted towards the door of the machine. "Don't think we haven't heard about these remnants of beasts you're all so eager to collect," he sneered, "Let's see what happens when MECH gets hold of them before you even _know_ they exist!" He slammed the door shut even as Miko opened fire on the machine. "Gunner, to tamper with temporal interactions will only doom your cause further," Optimus warned. "The timeline will reset itself, expelling you as the bloodstream expels foreign bodies. You run the risk of disappearing from existence altogether." But Gunner would not be reasoned with. "Autobots, take cover," the Prime said grimly. He turned to the children. "**Take cover and stay together: tampering with the past will gravely affect the future, for however short a time**."

Ratchet caught a glance at the operation settings on the machine as it began to hum and glow. "The fool!" he cried out, "He's sending himself to the days when the Predacons walked the Earth! He'll be killed by his own species if the Predacons don't get him first!" Ever the doctor, Ratchet searched for a way to extract Gunner from the temporal manipulator. He staggered as the ground beneath his feet seemed to buckle, giving way to mossy stone. Reality rippled as though someone had thrown a stone into a still pool, and the waves moved quickly and forcefully out of the epicenter of the event. Jack and Miko dropped to the ground, shielding Raf with their bodies while Arcee and Bulkhead did the same for them. With each wave, something else disappeared: walls, ceiling, concrete, and eventually the comforting presence of the Autobots vanished as well. There was time only for a panicked shout from Arcee and a fleeting touch of hand to servo-then nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Beri insisted that as the launching of a new story is a "special occasion", I ought to post ****_two_**** chapters, not one. Since I had actually posted the second chapter as a "test screening" in "Mirrors", I decided to go ahead with it.**

**After this, though, I'll probably be posting once a week on Wednesdays.**

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Chapter 2

"Hey, wake up, lazy bones!" Jack groaned and slowly blinked, trying to refocus his eyes. Why was it so _bright_? Someone playfully nudged him with a boot to the side, forcing him upright. Jack looked around, bewildered. He sat beneath a scrubby willow tree on a carpet of green grass that stretched about mile before ending sharply at a forbidding wall of trees. Automatically, he reached for his comm to call the Autobots. His fingers froze in place: the earpiece and chip were gone, and in their place was a hard lump beneath his skin with what felt like burn scars over it. Jack swallowed hard and felt the lump shift with his skin as he did. "Hey, Earth to Jack!" the voice cried again.

Sierra stood before him, red hair tucked into a bun and dressed in a _very_ strange mixture of modern fashion and medieval peasant-garb. He squinted, sure that he had somehow struck his head during the MECH debacle. "...Sierra? ...what are you wearing?" The girl pouted and bent down to lift a heavy-looking wooden bucket. "Don't laugh! My other one got mud on it when the cow kicked me this morning and I had to borrow Beth's spare kirtle." Jack leveled an incredulous stare at the girl. She was kidding, right? This had to be some kind of sick joke.

Or else MECH's temporal manipulator had done more damage than he'd thought.

Looking down, Jack saw that his clothing was different as well. In place of his normal attire, he wore a rough homespun tunic that fell to mid-thigh over a pair of faded jeans and hiking boots. Panic was forestalled when he remembered Optimus's words: "_tampering with the past will gravely affect the future"_. Whatever Gunner had done when he landed, Jack was about to find out how much the present had changed. With a grunt, he stood and stretched until he felt a vertebrae pop. "Have you seen Raf or Miko?" he asked, shading his eyes. Sierra pointed behind him. "They woke up about twenty minutes ago and went back to the city with everyone else. It was really weird, they were acting like they didn't remember _anything_!" In the direction she gestured, Jack saw a huge, rough palisade of sharpened tree trunks surrounding a large group of buildings. Some of them were clearly pieces of ruined skyscrapers, patched with wood and plaster.

"Hurry up, Jack! The barriers go up at sunset!" Sierra tugged at the boy's arm impatiently. "Barriers?" he muttered to himself. He leaned over and took the pail from the girl, sparing a glance at its contents. "Is that yarrow?" he asked, nodding to a small plant resting atop a mess of other herbs and roots. Sierra flushed. "Ye-es..." Her cheeks burned an even deeper scarlet and the words tumbled out in a rush. "I know your mother was running low and I thought if I brought her more, maybe she'd be willing to tell me about the origin of the Four Nations again. I didn't go far into the Forest, only a few feet, I _swear_!" She hung her head as they trudged towards the gate. "_Please_ don't tell anyone I went into the sacred Forest," she begged. Jack was completely at a loss for words.

"I...what? _No_! No, I won't say anything." he assured her. "Just tell me this: why is it such a bad thing to go into the Forest?" A smirk tugged at Sierra's lips. "I knew you wouldn't tell! You always ask that question!" Her voice took on a sing-song quality as she repeated an explanation she'd clearly heard often. "That's where the Raa Anta live: humans are forbidden to travel through their territory without their blessing or permission from the magistrates." The two passed through a tall gate just as a luminescent blue barrier shot up from the ground outside the wall on all sides of the city, forming a dome. "Cutting it a little close, Darby, as always," the guard on duty noted. Jack shrugged with a weak smile. He hefted the bucket higher and hurried to catch up with Sierra. "What's a Raa Anta?" he hissed, unable to contain his curiosity. She whirled about and stared at him as if unsure whether or not he was serious. "That's not funny, Jack," she said flatly, "You could get in huge trouble for talking about them like that!"

Internally, the young man debated with himself whether or not to reveal his ignorance. Until the timeline reset, he would seem like a madman at best. The way Sierra's eyes darted nervously about as she cautioned him to respect these "Raa Anta" beings made him fear that his lack of knowledge could lead to him breaking a taboo or worse. He followed Sierra's lead to a small house near the center of the town, half of a gutted shop at one point, he would have guessed. Like the other buildings, it was cobbled together with scrap metal, wood, and stone, yet somehow radiated hospitality and warmth. The door slid open, surprising Jack. Though it had the appearance of wood, it opened and shut with the hiss of hydraulics. Jack shook his head and slipped through the door. Gunner must have stepped on a _lot_ of butterflies, he concluded.

The interior looked enough like a normal house to comfort him, but there was still a post-apocalyptic scavenger feel to it. His mother knelt in the center of one of the long, low-ceilinged rooms, tending to a small electronic rice cooker. She glanced up and Jack stifled a gasp; when the woman brushed her long hair out of her face, he saw that one of her eyes was a milky white. Scars spiderwebbed out around the blinded eye, ending at the bridge of her nose and the edge of her hairline. "Hi Mom," Jack croaked uncertainly. She stood slowly, shaking out the folds of her grey linen skirt. "The gathering party returned an hour ago," she remarked quietly, "And it is nearly curfew. You are come most carefully upon your hour!" It took Jack several minutes to even realize she had quoted Shakespeare. Luckily, Sierra took his silence as an opportunity to present the herbs to the healer and beg a story of her.

"Not tonight, my dear. It is far too close to curfew, and I don't want you getting ration card demerits on my account," the woman said gently. The girl's face fell. "Tomorrow?" she asked in a barely hopeful tone. June nodded. "Bring more yarrow tomorrow and I will tell you the story again." She shooed the girl put the door and turned to her son. Taking the pail of herbs from him, she gestured to the back of the house. "Time you were in bed, Jack. You've got work in the morning." As she leaned over to kiss him goodnight, she caught sight of the winding scars behind his ear and gasped. "Jackson Darby, _what_ is _that_?!" Jack ran his fingers over the smooth, raised lines again and grimaced. "I don't know, Mom. I woke up under a willow tree and they were there."

Hurriedly, his mother pulled his lengthening hair down to cover the marks. "Keep that hidden!" she snapped. "Don't _tell_ anyone, don't _show_ anyone!" She turned away and pressed her lips firmly together. "Tulle's not taking my baby." She refused to say anymore on the subject, and Jack was left to figure out which room was his on his own. On a bookshelf made up of planks and bricks, he found four battered volumes with notes scribbled in the margins in his own hand. For once, Jack was grateful for all the science fiction movies Raf had made him watch. If he hadn't seen so many time-travel and alternate-reality stories, he would probably be having a mental breakdown right now. Curiosity overtook him as he perused the covers of the books. "_In the Foosteps of our Fathers: the histories of the People of the Lion._ Sounds...interesting, I guess. Hm. _Journeys of Ar_? Okay. _The Hakarmaskannar Cycles._..and... _Beginning Smithing_?" He set the books down and fell back on the ratty pallet that served as a bed. "I've got weird taste."

Morning came sooner than Jack felt it had a right to. All his muscles were still somewhat sore from the crawl through the tunnels and the skirmish at the MECH base, and he rolled stiffly off the mattress with a groan. He'd slept in his clothes, but somehow he didn't think this version of his mother would fault him for it. She was in the low room from the night before, packing some dried fruits and meats into a small bag. "Here, Jack," she pressed it into his hand. "Sierra is probably waiting for you at the gates again-you're late." The steady, even tone of her voice did not change even once as she pulled an itchy woolen hat down around his ears. "Don't take this off unless your hair covers that mark. Law be hanged: they can't have you!" Jack stared uncomfortably at the woman, but no further explanation was forthcoming. He kissed June's cheek and slipped out the door, squinting in the early morning light.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, everyone! Aspen here, with the weekly story update! **

**As can be surmised, I do not own Transformers. But if I could buy stock in them, I totally would. Do you think that would count as a loophole? :D**

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Chapter 3

As Jack retraced his steps to the wall-gate he'd come in through the night before, it struck him that whatever strange community had formed here looked to be split starkly between those with technology and those with little more than farming implements. Posted on the walls of many huts and houses were pieces of parchment with bright red ink upon them. Jack stepped closer to examine them. They appeared to be a list of new laws that had been passed by someone called Magistrate Tulle. The boy frowned as he read them.

_1. Curfew begins at sunset, not twilight. All those found out after curfew shall receive one demerit upon their ration card. Repeat offenders will be publicly shamed._

_2. One-third of all produce, product, or trade goods are to be given to the magistrates as tax. Failure to comply will result in temporary nullification of your ration card._

_3. Children are not allowed on the walltops or within the tower buildings unless they are working. Two demerits for every violation._

_4. Anyone found entering or intending to enter the sacred Forest is guilty of both trespassing and irreverence, and will be punished accordingly: intenders will be put in the stocks. Trespassers will be exiled and set among the moors._

_5. Do not speak of the Raa Anta. They do not offer their gracious protection so that we might ungraciously offend them. Anyone found speaking carelessly of them will be flogged and exiled._

"Great," Jack muttered, "Gunner plays with fire and we get a freaky dystopia or something."

Muttering under his breath, he stalked towards the gate, where Sierra was indeed waiting for him. "Hi Jack! I'm just going to the blackberry thickets today," there was something off about her words, a twitch of her eyelid and a slight quiver when she glanced at the guard. Jack surmised that she intended to look for yarrow in the Forest again and wished to convince the sentry otherwise. "Right," he forced a cheerful tone into his voice as he gestured to the field outside. "You lead, I'll follow." There, a gentlemanly enough excuse for having no idea where the blackberry thickets were. Luckily, they were not far from the willow tree where he'd awoken. By the size of the berries, Jack guessed it to be some time in mid May at least. The pair stained and scratched their hands pulling the tart, plump berries from their vines. "Ouch!" Jack shook his hand. "Watch it: those berries are contaminated now. They've got my blood all over them." Sierra gagged. "That's my lunch!" she said sarcastically. Holding up one of the pieces of fruit stained with Jack's blood, the girl tilted her head and said, "If we cloned DNA from this, would it he human or a plant mutant?" Jack eased over a step, putting some distance between them. He'd forgotten how random Sierra Cody could be. Sierra straightened her back with a groan after several minutes, leaving a purple stain on her forehead as she wiped it. "I miss the stars," she said, as if that had been the topic of conversation. "Dad and I used to sit on the roof and watch them every night until Tulle decided she was going to move curfew."

"Yeah," her companion bluffed awkwardly, "What's her problem, anyway?" Sierra scowled and began to throw blackberries into the pail hard enough to make them splatter. "I _know_! She's a total control freak! I hear that she used to be a halfway decent politician, you know." She covered the bucket with a cloth lid and picked up a second one, motioning to the edge of the trees silently. "Really?" Jack feigned interest, following behind her and checking to ensure that no one saw them. "Makes you wonder what happened, doesn't it?" the girl called over her shoulder. Jack shook his head. "I imagine she allowed power to corrupt her ideals. Sad, but not unheard of." The cheery buzz of the cicadas and the chirp of the birds seemed to hush momentarily as they crept under the heavy boughs. All was lit in a verdant hue and branches bent to form archways and alcoves like a vast, living cathedral. "_Wow_," the teens breathed together.

The natural stillness seemed to weigh on Sierra, making her jump at every pair of flapping wings or snapping twig. "There," she pointed to a collection of stumps in a ring. "That's where I found the yarrow last time." Jack glanced over at her and noted the tense way she carried herself. "Why don't you go back and pick up any other herbs my mom might need?" Relief flooded her eyes at the suggestion and she quickly retreated. Jack moved forward carefully, trying not to disturb even a single stone. Raf was so much better at moving quietly! The yarrow grew thick around one of the stumps, a wide, flat-topped piece of wood taller than Jack.

To his surprise, a different kind of plant grew around each of the eight stumps. Yarrow, Camellia, yellow Carnation, Delphinium, Freesia, Gladiolus, Jasmine, and a single Calla Lily. Jack was no gardner by any stretch of the imagination, but even he was fairly certain that these plants were not meant to grow all together at the same time. "Gunner, what'd you do? Mess with _all_ of nature?" he grumbled under his breath, reaching for the small green herbs. Something moved in the Forest behind him and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. For just a fleeting moment, he thought he heard a voice on the wind, whispering, "_Have you remembered yet?_" Jack stood quickly, eyes darting back and forth between the trees, even up into the branches. One encounter with Airachnid and you never forgot to check the branches. He hoped the yarrow he had was enough and slowly backed out of the ring. Miko would have said it was a fairy ring or some such absurdity. All the same... "Your pardon," he gulped, hoping he didn't look as foolish as he felt, "Didn't mean to disturb your ring. I'll, uh, I'm just gonna...go."

He found Sierra at the western end of the field, ankle-deep in a small creek. "Here!" she shouted, tossing a handful of soggy bank moss at him with a giggle. "Gross!" he laughed, peeling it off of his shirt and depositing it-and the yarrow-into the pail. "Yeah," Sierra agreed, pulling up more, "but it works as bandage padding in a pinch!" She raised her eyebrows in a silent question and Jack nodded to the bucket. "Thanks," she whispered. "I didn't want to go in again. I thought they'd catch me. Does that make me a coward?" Jack crouched on the bank and tilted his head to the side. "No. It's not necessarily courage to go looking for trouble." He reached down to help the girl out of the water. She smiled a little. "Courage. The People of the Lion used to be known for it." The smile turned sharp and bitter as Sierra turned her eyes to the palisade. "Now our motto may as well be '_bravery in small doses, and only when Tulle's back is turned'_."

They sat on the creek bank for much of the afternoon, with Jack subtly extracting information from the girl about the kind of culture he'd landed in. It occurred to him that he might have some sort of work besides helping Sierra to do, but he couldn't quite bring himself to leave the sunny spot yet. Sierra did most of the talking until the sun began to go down, chattering about her family and their tiny plot of land and her ambition to play the role of F'ar the Huntress onstage someday. He offered her a hand up and they made their way back through the swishing grass to the gate, then through the town to the Darby house. It looked even stranger in the dim light of sunset than it had at dusk. June was thrilled with the collection of herbs presented to her and agreed to tell Sierra a story.

"The same tale as usual, I suppose?" June asked with a smile. She directed Jack to put the herbs away in a series of small boxes lining the wall. It was a painstaking business, as he was left to guess by shape and scent what went where. As he attempted the task, he listened intently to his mother's story, hoping it would give him some idea of the way the world worked beyond the walls of Jasper. "Long ago," the woman began softly from the wide orange cushion where she sat, "humans were as numerous as the sands of the seashore, and lived on every continent of the globe-there were _seven_ continents back then, not _five_. When my great-grandmother was a little girl, great storms and quakes began to shake the world, and many people died. That's when They came." Jack stopped even pretending to organize herbs when he heard his mother's oddly reverent whisper. Having flipped through some of the books in his room, he had a hunch as to where this was going, and he was not entirely comfortable with it.

"From the stars came mighty beings of unimaginable power, and they took pity on the remnants of human civilization. The people divided themselves into four tribes to follow the separate strata of the Anta: for example, the People of the Wolf-" Here Sierra nodded and shuddered. "The wild ones in the jungles. They scare me." she said with a faraway look. June continued. "They were claimed by the _Draug_ Anta-a kind of demi-Anta-who gathered their human followers and taught them to live off the land with animals. They are wild and unpredictable, but love all life. Very rarely do they leave the jungles and forests." Jack came to sit on another pillow beside Sierra, interested. "And what of the other three peoples?" he asked, hoping he wasn't expected to know the answer. "Those who cared only for power and might were gladly taken in by the _Thoron_ Anta and became the People of the Falcon." Contempt colored the woman's tone and her hand rose of its own accord to trace the scars around her eye. "Since their formation they have been the bitter rivals of the People of the Lion. Every day their Raptor packs grow bolder, raiding their way across the continents."

Jack found himself comparing them to Decepticons and jolted when he realized that his newly subcutaneous translator chip was registering the names in Cybertronian! He didn't have the first clue regarding the ones June had called "the wolf face", but he was willing to bet that the "falcon face" referred to the Decepticon badge. Then were the Anta Cybertronians? That gave him some hope, at least, of finding Arcee and the others. Sierra leaned forward eagerly and rested her chin on her fists. "And far and away, up in the mountains," she prompted. Mrs. Darby smiled. "Far and away, up in the mountains, the mysterious People of the Dragon live. They reverence the _Hakarmaskannar_ Anta, who are even more mysterious than they. They do not interact with the rest of the world unless provoked by some injury, and then their wrath is swift and terrible, utterly implacable. They do not forgive and they do not forget." Outside, a long chime as from a huge silver bell sounded. "First warning for curfew," Sierra sighed, "Just when we were getting to the best part!"

"The _Raa_ Anta?" Jack guessed. With a glowing smile, his mother bobbed her head. "They found those willing to follow them, to emulate them, and brought them through the Forest to this clearing, where they built the city of Jasper. Ar, the king of all Anta, bid the humans be at peace with them, to walk and talk among them. And so we used to do: they taught us to use technology we'd never dreamed of, prevented us from falling into total anarchy. Time was, one or two humans would go to live among them, if they bore their Mark. Though that has not happened for a long time, as there have been no true Speakers. Still, they do not let enemies approach us, and we honor them in return, for we are the People of the Lion." Her one good eye glinted proudly as she threw back her head, revealing a medallion secured to her throat by a red ribbon. Straight lines, squarish in shape and made of some kind of metal, the charm made Jack's breath catch in his throat. He had seen the symbol before, many times.

It was the Autobot badge.


	4. Chapter 4

**And here we are once again with the weekly update! Thank you all for the reviews, they're very encouraging! I welcome constructive criticism: I'd like to know what I'm doing right and what I could be doing better. **

**Mondays don't have to be terrible! Here, have a chapter of bizarre story. Like before, bold print= Cybertronian words**

**(chapter soundtrack: "Captain Shakespeare" from Stardust)**

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Chapter 4

The boy rose before dawn and slung an old rifle over his back. Five days had passed and still the natural timeline had not reasserted itself. Within the palisade at the edge of the woods, life went on as it "always" had. That is to say, the People of the Lion worked together to survive through a very unusual mixture of agriculture, futuristic technology, and hunting/gathering. At sixteen, Jack was considered old enough to work with the adults, and found that in this temporary universe, he was evidently apprenticed to a rough, unpleasant man aptly named Granite, who was supposed to repair weapons. What he actually did was drink, curse, and sleep. He told the boy (often, and loudly) that he didn't particularly care whether Jack showed up to work or not, so long as he didn't disturb him. While this presented a perfect opportunity to search for a way out with Miko and Raf, Jack's conscience would not allow him to leave without taking something along to repair on the way.

It hadn't been until the third day that Jack had found his friends. Rafael's family lived in the poorer, agricultural part of town where his brothers worked the fields. Miko still lived with her host parents, only they acted as if she were actually their daughter. Being considerably more affluent, they lived in a house that had not been made of salvaged materials. The third day had also been Jack's first experience with "Tulle". She was a thin, pinched woman possessed of a magpie's shrill, warbling voice and a penchant for condescension. When Jack encountered her, she was standing in the marketplace with a clipboard and pen, brown curls piled outrageously into a hairstyle that should have gone out with the 1970s. Like some miniature female Starscream, Tulle raged because a shopkeeper would not refer to her by her preferred title.

"That's your third demerit this week, Frederica. You're already on the watch list for improper disposal of leftover goods. With a baby to feed, can you _really_ afford another?" With an amiable smile and a steely eye, the woman answered her tormentor, "Well as long as we're on first name terms, Adelaide, I would remind you that-by the standard of the Jasper Charter- what you are doing is called illegal harassment, and I have the right to report you if I wish." Jack grinned at the woman's boldness. Miko would like her, he was sure. Report me to whom?" Tulle cooed, "Even if there were anyone over me, why should they believe someone of your...economic standing?" The barely-veiled insults flew and were calmly deflected with dizzying speed until at last Tulle withdrew. With an ugly smile, she marked Frederica's ration card with six demerits, "accidentally" kicked over a display, and flounced into a tiny, waiting car. Jack shook his head and made his way over to help clean up. "That was impressive," he said by way of greeting. The round woman chuckled dryly and easily lifted the shelf. "Me, or Addie's temper tantrum?"

"Both, I guess," he smiled back. "How does she still hold any power at all?" Frederica rolled dark eyes expressively. "God only knows, hon, and I just pray He knocks some sense into that woman before I do." With the display set to rights again, Jack stood and brushed himself off. "Aren't you worried about the demerits?" The shopkeeper snorted and waved a hand as if shooing the thought away. "The council of magistrates will overturn her decision. They almost always do! And even if they don't, The Lord will provide." She thanked Jack for helping her and slipped something into his hand. "For having such a kind heart," she beamed. Three amber beads lay in his palm like the heart of a tree. When he looked up at Frederica, the woman leaned forward and whispered, "_If ever you get in trouble with Addie-which probably means you were doing the right thing-take these to the meat market and look for the sign of the Fish. They'll help you._" Surprised, Jack had thanked Frederica and continued on to find his friends.

The fourth day had passed without incident, save for Miko showing up at the weapons forge, fuming about overbearing politicians. She'd woken Granite, who had loudly cursed her out...only to be cowed into silence by an equally blistering tirade. Jack had waited outside until the shrieking stopped, dismayed that his translator chip was cheerfully explaining every insult Miko was hurling. Evidently, the girl had been climbing a tree, trying to see over the palisade, and Tulle not only gave her a demerit, but made her stay up in the tree for two hours with her guards beneath it to keep her from coming down. It had crossed Jack's mind at the time that Adelaide Tulle was _remarkably_ lucky that they hadn't found Bullhead yet. They'd met Raf in the fields afterwards, and as they helped him pull up weeds, Jack had told them of his foray into the Forest. They'd heard a few more rumors than he had regarding the place with the circle of stumps, which was surmised to be a kind of meeting-place for the Raa Anta.

Now, on the fifth day, he found Raf in their designated meeting place: a ruined statue of some poet or other, surrounded by the wild remains of a hedge maze. "Any word from the 'Bots?" Jack whispered, dropping down into a small hollow beside the younger boy. Raf shook his head despondently. He waved his hand gently over a bulky leather gauntlet strapped to his left arm, activating a tiny computer display. "Pilar smuggled this to me from the Echelon building," he muttered conspiratorially. He referred to the old skyscraper that had been modified into a partial castle on the western edge of town, where some of the elder Esquivels worked. It was the dwelling place of the magistrates, most of whom were good, honest people. Their supervisor, unfortunately, was a different story. As they had already learned, Adelaide Tulle was a petty, vicious woman who would have been more at home with the Raptor packs of the Falcon People than with the quiet, honorable governors of the Lion People. The tyrannical and oft times simply silly laws Jack had seen had been instituted by Tulle against the wishes of her subordinates.

Jack tore his gaze from the Echelon building where Magistrate Tulle lurked as a cascade of pebbles on the hillside warned them of someone's approach. "Contact at two o'clock," he murmured, pointing with two fingers. Raf squinted at his tiny screen and relaxed a fraction. "It's Miko's signal," he replied. His fingers traced the patch behind his ear where the translator chip had once been. According to Rafael's analysis, in adaption to the altered timeline, the hardware was now beneath the skin, marked by scars in the shape of Cybertronian glyphs. Upon receiving his piece of stolen technology, it had been the work of a moment for Raf to synchronize the gauntlet to the chips' individual frequencies. Black boots suddenly dangled above their heads as Miko slid down to join them. "Stupid old-fashioned rules. Stupid semi-dark ages!" she snarled without preamble.

Miko yanked a knit cap off of her head, shaking her wild hair free. "My "adopted" mother doesn't hold with "unnaturally colored hair", and made me cover it again," she explained, tying the pink and black mess into her customary style. "I swear, if I hear about "the way proper ladies behave" one more time, I'm gonna pull a Predaking." Raf and Jack grimaced. "Ah **je**, **K'anis**, please don't!" Jack laughed, "You'd blow our cover!" Miko lightly punched his shoulder and huddled down between the boys. "Almost a week in this Warcraft wannabe and the timestream hasn't fixed itself yet," she huffed, leaning her head back against the hedge. She sighed deeply and pulled her knees to her chest. She could live with the weird clothes, survive the ridiculously strict magistrates, tolerate the bizarre superstitions about the Autobots. What she found she could not live with was the aching emptiness she felt in the pit of her stomach every time she saw the Autobot symbol. Since the day she had spotted Jack and Arcee in the alleyway, this was the longest she'd ever been separate from them.

Slender fingers twisted into the fabric of her dark kirtle and tightened. "I want to go _home_." she whispered fiercely, laying her head upon her knees. Raf curled up against her side in sympathy and Jack wrapped his arms as far as he could around the pair of them. "It's going to be okay, guys," he soothed, "It hasn't even been a week yet. I've been getting stories out of Sierra and my mom, and I think our best course of action is to go looking for these _Raa Anta_, and see whether they're our 'Bots. We'll have to find a way out to the woods without the watchmen noticing. It's doable, but difficult." He blew out a breath and released his hold on the others to run a hand over his face. All was quiet for several minutes, until the silence was broken by the sound of a gong being struck in the square.

"Ah, _what_ is that _racket_? I don't know what all their signals mean!" For such a young boy, Rafael sounded very like an old man as he sat up and stretched. He scrunched up his nose as the gong resounded again. Miko grasped hold of Jack's shoulder and used it to hoist herself to her feet. "It sounds like a General Assembly call," she grumbled, jamming her hair back under the coif in jerking, angry gestures. "Madame Umbridge must have thought of another rule." Jack smirked at the very accurate comparison to Magistrate Tulle and struggled to his feet. In only four days, Miko had managed to run completely and totally afoul of Tulle. Not that anyone was surprised: the woman was obsessed with control and order and Miko was chaos itself! Her hair color, her loudness, and her complete refusal to be intimidated made her a force to be reckoned with in Tulle's books.

Reluctantly, the three left their hiding place and hiked into the town square to join the throng. Surprisingly, it was Magistrate Xiaojian, not Magistrate Tulle, who stood at the podium. The gentle old man held up his hands for silence, smiling benignly at the crowd. "Good afternoon, my friends! I know you're all very busy, but this is quite important!" Xiaojian motioned to the sky. "Tonight, as I'm sure you all know, is a full moon. Now we're all aware of what happens when the moon is full, aren't we? That's right, the shields fail." With an apologetic sigh, the magistrate shuffled across the platform and began handing sheafs of papers into the masses to be passed along. "Magistrate Supervisor Tulle has demanded an earlier curfew on full-moon-nights, as well as a doubled guard. In light of recent and coming events, the others and I have reluctantly agreed." Amidst angry mutterings, Frederica shouted out from the back of the crowd, "What "recent and coming events" do you mean, Magistrate Xiaojian?"

The wrinkled brow puckered. "I'm _not_ going to lie to you all," he said firmly, "Nomadic groups of Falcon People have been spotted making their way towards the Forest. They may well reach us, because tonight of all nights is the one time the Raa Anta may be too busy to busy to stop them." Miko and Jack exchanged glances. "Could these people be any _more_ vague?" the girl mused sourly. A tugging at their hands brought their eyes down to meet Raf's. "I know what he means," the small boy whispered, "I heard Mama talking about it earlier!" For the last two years in the city, during every full moon when the barrier fell, two or three of the Raa Anta would stalk the streets. They rarely ever spoke more than two words to those who saw them, and only came at night. They acted as though they were searching for something or someone, but the People of the Lion were afraid to ask who. They would hunt until they had made their way through the entire city, then vanish into the Forest once more. The howling of some vast wolf could sometimes be heard after this.

"Oh yes, and one more thing," Magistrate Xiaojian looked supremely apologetic as he wrung his hands, "As it would seem that _certain_ people have been treating curfew as a suggestion rather than a law, Tulle would like all public meetings to end with a review of what we can and cannot do here in Jasper. Good neighbors make strong defenses, so we must all rely upon each other: if you see someone breaking a rule, talk to them about it before you go to the security forces! Curfew is _two_ minutes after the gong, not _ten,_ and entering the Forest is forbidden. Due to whichever practical jokers thought it would be funny to draw Magistrate Tulle's head on a Thoron Anta's body, we are no longer allowed to use the art hall until the perpetrators confess. So _thank_ you for that, whoever you are." He beetled his brow and glared comically into the eyes of the younger crowd members. "And remember, anyone with a mark behind their ear is to be brought to the magistrates at once!" Self-consciously, Jack, Miko, and Raf tugged their hair and hats down to cover the glyphs that marked the position of their translator chips. Somehow, they knew that boded ill for them!

After the halfhearted repetition of Magistrate Tulle's laws, Xiaojian dismissed the assembly and hobbled back to his waiting van. Slowly, the streets cleared, leaving the trio of children in the square. "With the shield down, Jasper is vulnerable," Miko observed, "And these guys seem pretty predictable. I'm betting everybody for miles knows about the moon-thing!" Jack flopped onto a bench to work on the rifle he still had from the forge. "If the Raa Anta actually come to the city, that makes our lives easier. It shouldn't take long to figure out if they're our Autobots or not." He turned to Raf, tapping his chin. "Raf, once they're past the borders, they'd pick up our comm signals, right?" The young genius held up his gauntlet and typed several commands into it. "If we're operating on the assumption that the walls interfere with the signal, then yes. This should work." Jack nodded decisively. "Alright, do you want to meet in the usual place tonight?"

Miko ducked behind Jack for a moment as the people who had apparently adopted her in this timeline approached. "Scrap." she muttered. The Leander family made their way towards the trio, making it quite clear that they'd spotted Miko. Raf adjusted his glasses and hid his stolen gauntlet behind his back. "I should go," he gulped awkwardly, "I'm supposed to help my brothers in the fields later." Taking one last look at the dignified shock on Mrs. Leander's face at her adopted daughter's chosen company, Raf tiptoed to whisper, "**Courage, Nene'**," into Miko's ear. With that, the boy scampered off. Whether or not he actually knew where he was going was debatable at best. Seeing that her hiding place was futile, the girl heaved a gusty sigh and stood, brushing off her skirt. "Catch ya later, **Y'ats'a**," she grumbled, "That is, if I live to tonight." Jack winced and patted her arm. "You know where to find me if you need me?" "Healer's house: only one on your street with electricity. Yeah, I know where to go," Miko punched his shoulder and allowed herself to be dragged away by the Leanders.


	5. Chapter 5

**Welcome back, and happy Monday to you all! In response to some guest reviews, don't worry, you'll see the others soon enough. I just have to finish setting up all the characters first. **

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Chapter 5

For such a prim and proper woman, Mrs. Leander was doing a _remarkable_ impression of an enraged chicken as she strutted about the living room in quick, sharp movements, squawking about Miko's evident lack of good judgment. "Mikoto, you are a thoughtless girl! Why, you haven't a care for my poor nerves at all! Do you have any idea what a nasty turn you gave me when I saw you with those awful, rough boys?" she turned to her husband. "Tell her, Mr. Leander!" The lethargic man looked up from his book. "Eh? Oh yes. Frightful. Completely beneath you or some such nonsense." Satisfied that her husband was on her side, Mrs. Leander twirled back to berate Miko for even giving the time of day to two young men, unaccompanied. Behind her back, Mr. Leander winked at Miko and mouthed, _She's just jealous._

Miko flopped across the couch and attempted to tune the woman out. Lydia and Kate, the Leanders' biological daughters, shot her sympathetic looks and returned to their weaving. The Leander family had done well for themselves by making cloths that couldn't be found elsewhere. Miko had been meant to help her sisters with the looms that morning, making up the bulk of Mrs. Leander's irritation with her. Eventually the woman ran out of steam and swished out of the room in a bustle of skirts to bemoan the fate of "a poor woman with hard-hearted children". Lydia, sweet and sensible, moved the shuttle with hardly a sound and tsked. "I do believe Mama's mistaken life for an Austen novel again," she said calmly. "She _really_ must stop listening to those audio files."

"Well!" Kate interrupted loudly, "If that's how she reacted when Miko found a man, _I'll_ have to keep all _my_ sweethearts a secret!" Mr. Leander scoffed and patted Miko's head affectionately. "Miko? Found a man? Don't be ridiculous, Katie. There's not a boy among all the People of the Lion equal to our Miko." Still chuckling over the idea, the man took his leave of them. Sitting up a little straighter, Lydia called to her sisters, "Someone pass me the red wool, please." Miko stretched backward over the couch to reach the neatly piled skeins and snatched the red. "Whatcha using it for?" She leaned over the older girl's shoulder to see the makings of a tapestry depicting battle between what were clearly Cybertronians. One with evil red eyes brandished a twisted black blade against a noble figure wielding what appeared to be a fallen star. Crimson streams ran from their armor to the ground.

"It should be finished by the time of the Remembering Festival," Lydia's eyes glowed with pride. "It's supposed to be Ar's battle with the evil Kerythcor." Miko raised an eyebrow and stared critically at the picture. "Actually, their blood is blue." She squeaked and clapped her hands over her mouth at the slip. Kate and Lydia stared at her, open-mouthed. "H-how would you know something like that?!" Kate gasped. Miko squirmed under their scrutiny. "Umm... I've...seen it?" Kate nearly knocked over her loom as she scrambled over to sit next to Miko. "Tell meee!" she squealed, "You are _officially_ the luckiest person alive!" Lydia looked worried. "When could _you_ have possibly seen an Anta?" she demanded, "You didn't go into the Forest, did you? If Tulle found out, she could have you tried for...well, whatever she's calling it these days. Irreverence, I think."

"I didn't go in the Forest!" Miko protested, "As far as I know, I've _never_ been in the Forest!" Beside her, Kate grabbed her hands and stared intently at her. "Who did you see? Was it F'ar, the huntress? Mighty Ar, king of the Anta? Probably wasn't Fallaner, right? The last Speakers said that Fallaner never shows himself anymore. I kind of hope it was Iirt, since he's the guardian of youth. Was it Andram? Andram was always your patron Anta." Miko blinked. "Okay, whoa. Slow down for like, two seconds and let me think. I _totally_ wasn't supposed to let anyone know I knew anything about them, like, ever. Still, I guess when the timeline resets, you guys won't remember this, so there's no real harm done." All went silent as Lydia's hands stilled at the loom. Her face was pale and drawn. For two generations, laws had slowly been put in place to keep the humans separate from the Anta, for fear that some rash soul might offend them and cause them to revoke their blessing and protection. Only Speakers were allowed to see the giants, and there had been no true Speakers for two years.

Magistrate Tulle claimed to be a Speaker, naturally, but no one believed her. Speakers reflected the nature of those whose language they spoke, and the People of the Lion simply could not believe that the Raa Anta were anything like Adelaide Tulle. Now Lydia's sister sat here making the outrageous claim that not only had she seen their uncanny protectors, but that she had seen them bleed! "Miko, you can't say things like this, you'll get us all into trouble!" Lydia pleaded, glancing nervously about. The younger girl rolled her dark eyes. "Get a grip, Lydia. And stop cringing! They're not gods." The eldest sister flushed and wound her fingers through the wool. "Well I _know_, but with the way the magistrates speak about them, one might assume..." She sighed and turned back to her weaving, determined to change the subject before Miko said anything else unsettling. "Katie, who was that boy I saw you exchanging addresses with yesterday?" Kate all but crowed as she told them about the handsome hunter from the East Quarter she had met. It was the perfect opportunity for Miko to slip out unnoticed.

The streets of the West Quarter were quiet. Most of the work on this side of town was done indoors with whatever technology they possessed. Miko found herself wandering up the staircase that had been built into the side of the Echelon castle. Here at the western edge of Jasper, it was the one part of the wall made of stone, rather than wood. Miko leaned out over the parapet and closed her eyes, soaking up the sunlight. The noise of the city faded into a steady drone, slowly but surely overwhelmed by the sounds of nature. The snap of a branch in the Forest, though several yards away, was as loud as if it had broken next to Miko. A gentle cadence of thumps echoed across the field as a small herd of deer idly grazed. Suddenly, the light faded and the air grew chill as a cloud covered the sun. The crackling of branches caught Miko's attention, and she opened her eyes in time to see a murder of crows take to the sky with a rushing of wings. Shrieking and cawing, they loudly scolded whatever had disturbed their rest from a safe distance. Something was out there.

The girl stared intently into the trees, holding her breath. When the hand fell upon her shoulder, she reacted purely out of instinct. Miko windmilled one arm out and down, trapping the arms of the other person as she pivoted on her heel, poised to deliver a powerful blow to the stomach. "Whoa! Easy there!" the guard squawked, now very sorry indeed that he had not announced his presence before. Miko freed the man's arm, and smiled. "Sorry, Fowler," she inclined her head slightly. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that, it's a good way to get hurt!" It was indeed Fowler, albeit with a scruffy beard and somewhat less of a paunch. He patted her shoulder and leaned against the walls. "That's _Sentinel_ Fowler to you, young lady. And I apologize for scaring you. I just came to remind you that kids aren't allowed on the walltops. You could fall, you know." Miko smirked and hoisted herself up to sit on the warm stone, prompting a horrified gasp from the guard. "Believe me, I'm not afraid of heights!" Miko laughed.

Fowler smiled weakly, then turned his gaze to the trees. "Full moon tonight," he remarked. Miko scowled and nodded. "If the shields go down, d'you think any of the other People will take advantage of our vulnerability?" she asked, peering out at the long stretch of the palisades. "Yes I do. That's why we're doubling the guard, Miss Leander," he answered. His eyes narrowed as he stared down at the very edge of the trees. "Call me crazy," he muttered, "but I got a feeling in my bones that something's coming. Something big." With that, the guard shouldered his rifle and left Miko to her thoughts. "The stone is good," she thought aloud, remembering some lecture Bulkhead had given her when she was bored out of her mind, "It'll probably hold up under everything save explosions. The palisades...not so much. If Falcons attack tonight, that's where they'll hit." She nodded to herself and decided it couldn't hurt to see whether the Leanders kept any weapons about.

She hopped down the stairs and rounded the corner a little too quickly, almost running into another person. The older woman drew back as if afraid she might catch a disease from the girl. She wrinkled her long nose and sniffed in disgust. "Well I _do_ hope you weren't just up on the wall, Miss Leander," Magistrate Tulle sneered, "Children are not allowed on the wall-but of course, you know that, don't you? Which means you were _choosing_ to disobey." There was a look of spiteful glee in her round eyes as she purred, "That's another demerit on your ration card, Mikoto. Five more and you won't be eating this week." Miko raised one delicate eyebrow in an expression that broadcasted just how little she was threatened by the magistrate's posturing. "That's cute, Umbridge," she patted the woman on the head as she passed. "Some of us have work to do right now." Adelaide Tulle absolutely fumed as the girl strode jauntily away, arms swinging like a lumberjack. Her position was in jeopardy, she just knew it!

As of five days ago, the middle Leander girl had suddenly begun challenging her authority on nearly every point, even going so far as to declare that there were certainly others who understood the Raa Anta better than she. Of course there were! Why else would she make it a law that all Speakers or potential Speakers were to be turned over to her? She couldn't risk someone _actually_ communicating with the giants after she'd worked so hard to create a fear and reverence in the humans they supposedly watched over. What if someone else began following Miko's example and challenged her? Her normal punishments simply did not effect the girl: she merely laughed them off with a combined look of pity and condescension.

Something would have to be done about Mikoto Nakadai Leander, and soon.


	6. Chapter 6

H**appy Saint Patrick's Day, everyone! Hey, if you have time, I suggest looking up the animated short about St. Patrick from "The Sumo of the Opera". It's a cute way of retelling the story.**

**Anyway, welcome to this week's chapter!**

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Chapter 6

Rafael sat on the overturned wheelbarrow and breathed in deeply, filling his lungs with the smell of tilled earth. Although his mother and sisters worked as secretaries and errand-runners in the Echelon building, Raf's father and elder brothers tended the fields in the south part of town: the agricultural quarter. Technically, he and Pilar were too young to have full jobs, like the adults. Pilar sometimes tagged along to the Echelon building to help clean offices-that was how she'd come across the gauntlet she'd smuggled to her little brother-but today she sat next to Raf on the barrow, tossing pebbles at crows. "It's not fair!" she whined, beaning an unfortunate corvid on the head with a fair-sized rock. "_What's_ not fair? That you have to sit out here with us instead of in the Echelon building?" Raf mumbled, halfheartedly throwing a stone. He didn't really want to hurt the birds. They were just trying to eat, he reasoned. Pilar elbowed him sharply.

"No, it's not fair that Tulle shut down the art hall just because she didn't like someone's drawing! If she didn't want cartoons made of her, she shoulda stayed out of politics. And besides, she's the supervisor of the _magistrates_, not the _crafters' guild_! She has no right to open or close the art hall." With an aggravated huff, the fourteen year old lobbed her pebble with a bit more force than necessary. It bounced off the handle of the plow with a clack. "Hey hey! Cuidado, mihija, me veo como un pájaro a usted?" the man behind it shouted, playfully shaking his fist at his youngest children. Pilar laughed. "Sorry, Papa!" Raf cupped his hands around his mouth, "Yeah, sorry she _missed_! She was aiming for your _head_!" Pilar squeaked in outrage and pushed her cackling little brother off the wheelbarrow and into a pile of sacks of seed. Well, at least some things never changed.

By the time the light began to dim and the foraging parties returned from the field outside the fence again, the Esquivels had finished planting. Miguel ran to fetch their scarecrow, a truly unpleasant thing that made Raf's skin crawl. It bore an unfortunate resemblance to Slender Man, and that alone was enough to make the birds avoid it. Miguel set it in the middle of the field, then turned to his father and siblings. "¡Vamos!" he called, "It'll be dark soon!" At a quick, but not rushed, pace, they made their way to a wide house not too far away. Mama and Alicia and Marcela were already home, as everyone but field hands got off of work early on full-moon-nights. It was a sparsely furnished place, and the children slept in hammocks which were kept in the closet during the day, but Raf didn't mind. He wasn't sure how he'd ended up with an extra brother and sister in the fouling of the timestream, but at least Mama had more hands to help her. Dinner was simple: rice and vegetables, but everything they ate they'd grown themselves. "The magistrates can't touch this lot with their stupid ration cards," Beto boasted, waving a piece of celery like a conductor's baton.

His mother snatched the vegetable from him with a disapproving look. "Don't play with your food, mihijo." She dropped the celery on Juan's plate. "Tomorrow, take the surplus down to the shop and man the counters." On weekends, the Esquivels sold produce in a little stand in the northern district. It was suspected (but never said aloud) that they secretly gave food to those whose ration cards had been filled with demerits by Tulle. Talk of farming and judicial issues peppered the conversation until the gongs rang for curfew. Mr. Esquivel stood quietly and dimmed the lamp over the table. Raf sighed. He knew the nightly routine by now, but that didn't mean he was comfortable with it. He pushed back his chair and slowly followed his family to a back room.

A wooden chest was taken from beneath his parents' bed and from it, they took an Autobot insignia. Mrs. Esquivel passed it from person to person, with each voicing a hope or wish. "Perhaps we'll have meet this winter if the Draug are kind," she said. "Perhaps Ar will slay Kerythcor once and for all, and we won't have to worry about Raptor packs anymore," Marcela sighed. Raf cringed as his turn neared. It was almost like they were praying to the "Raa Anta", and even though Pilar had told him it was "just for luck", he could not bring himself to copy them. As he had done the previous nights, he hurriedly passed the carving to his brother and ignored the startled stares. At last, the wooden chest was put away, and all the siblings climbed into their hammocks. Raf waited with eyes shut, feigning sleep, until all lights were out. Then, furtively, he listened for the deep breaths that meant his siblings slept, and rolled out of the hammock.

Bare feet hit the woven rug with hardly a sound as the boy tucked himself into a stealthy crouch. When no one moved, he let out the breath he'd been holding and grabbed the tattered mocassins near the door. One last glance over his shoulder, one last-minute decision to take his brother's hunting knife from its place on the mantel, and he was off into the night. It was Rafael's first time out at night in the five days he'd been in the Other Jasper, as he called it. Distantly, he could see lights bobbing about on the walls as the doubled guard watched for Raptor packs or Raa Anta. '_Now if I was in charge of this place,_' the little one said to himself, '_I'd have a patrol or two going about to make sure no one was on the streets past curfew. We'll just have to watch for that, won't we?' _

The Southern Quarter was silent, save for the bark of a stray dog, proclaiming his rule over the wide walkways as Raf made his way from shadow to shadow. Twelve years of being the youngest and one year fighting Decepticons had taught him how to move unseen. Ratchet had more than once bemoaned his sneakiness as he sometimes used it to startle the old medic. He paused behind a barrel and held his breath as the slow, heavy tread of a night watchman grew nearer. It was impossible to tell which way he was coming from, given that the empty streets were serving to amplify and confuse the sound. Raf scowled and hoisted himself up onto the barrel, using it as a step-stool to scramble up the side of the nearest house. He lay on his stomach on an outer support beam, covered in thatch, and waited. From beneath the itchy, stale straw, he saw the faint glow of a battery-powered lantern as two soldiers rounded the corner.

"This street's clear," a bored young woman sighed, "Just like the others. Come on! Does Tulle really think anyone would actually be stupid enough to go outside when the shields are down?" She was quickly shushed by her companion and hurried along the road. "That's _Magistrate_ Tulle. And you _know_ she gets twitchier every full moon!" The guards turned at the end of the street, voices growing faint. "Right, right. Hey, think we'll get to see the Raa Anta when they come?" "Doubt it. _Nobody_ sees an Anta when it doesn't want to be seen." Eventually, footsteps and voices faded away entirely, and Raf rolled down off the beam and hopped off the barrel. "That was close!" he muttered. On foot, it would take him twenty minutes to reach their normal meeting place from where he was. Once in the less agricultural part of Jasper, there would be more places to hide.

A quick look at his gauntlet told him that Miko was on the move as well, and that Jack hadn't left yet. Keeping to the shadows, Rafael crept through the center of town and ducked under a bench. Unsurprisingly, the highest concentration of patrols were on the walltops, watching for any signs of Raptor Packs. The boy crawled on his stomach from bench to bench, avoiding the spotlights being cast about. His foot connected with the edge of a cobblestone with a soft clatter, twisting his ankle slightly. "Who's there?!" A man with a flashlight emerged from an alley and Raf froze. "Ah, Fallen blast it!" he hissed under his breath, trying to ignore the pain. Grimly, he pressed his lips together and waited. The soldier, wearing an insignia that Raf would later learn belonged to Tulle's personal guard, walked slowly across the square, turning his lamp this way and that. "Where are you?" Raf heard him mutter under his breath. '_Nope. Nope! You didn't hear anything! Go away, go away, go away!' _The child chanted silently, willing the man to turn around.

Suddenly, a low, warbling whistle broke the night. "Movement in the South fields!" Sentry Fowler bellowed, "Raptor Pack incoming!" The guard abandoned his search and sprinted for the wall stairs. "How many, Fowler?" "Just scouts for now, but they know the shield is down." As soon as the guard had reached the walltop, Raf scrambled from his hiding place and limped in the opposite direction, towards the ruins of the park. He flinched when he heard another sentry call out, "Who's that down there? Stop!" but he kept moving. There were no shadows or alleys to hide in now that he had reached the edge of the center of town. He heard the pounding of feet behind him, yet he pressed on. A rough hand fell on his shoulder. "What're you doing out after curfew?" the woman demanded.

When Raf refused to answer her, she grabbed him by the collar and lifted him bodily from the ground. "You're in a heap of trouble already junior, don't add 'resisting arrest' to 'breaking curfew'." The glow of the watchwoman's lantern bathed the boy's face in a sickly light and he turned his head to shield his eyes. The grip on his shirtfront tightened and the lantern fell away as Raf's scars caught the light. "By Ar," the guard gasped, "You're a _Speaker_!" She turned to shout up to her superiors. _Crack_! Her head snapped to the side and she collapsed, dropping Rafael to the ground. Out of the darkness, a figure wielding a long staff emerged. "**On your feet, ats'ka**," Miko reached down for Raf. "Let's go, before the Raptors reach the fence." Hoisting the boy up, Miko shouldered her staff and took off at a run, towing her friend behind her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey everyone! I meant to have this out sooner, but the website was having issues and wouldn't let me submit it. Was anyone else having trouble with that? Anyway, some familiar faces in this chapter, for everyone who's patiently waited thus far for them!**

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As with the other chapters, **bold text**= Cybertronian

Chapter 7

"Jackson Darby, _what_ do you think you're doing?!"

Jack winced, hand frozen at the door controls. He turned to find June standing in the darkened hallway with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. "Mom, I don't have time to explain," he began, "There's...there's something I have to do." June's one good eye glinted an angry ice-blue as she moved to intercept her son. "Whatever it is, it will wait until morning. You are _not_ going out after curfew on a full-moon night and that's _final_!" She watched the boy tug at his raven hair, frustrated, and winced as he uncovered the mark behind his ear. June reached out to cover it again, but Jack caught her hand. "Mom," he said gently, "I know this doesn't make sense right now, but I need to be out there. I need to see the Anta."

June shook her head adamantly. "Jack, I worry enough about you when you're following the rules, but _this_? I don't need Tulle and her guards to have a reason to raid our house, Jack. I've had a hard enough time keeping the archives out of her reach." Her son blinked suddenly, catching on the unfamiliar term. "What archives?" he asked in a slightly suspicious voice. June lifted her chin, and the lamplight shimmered on her faction symbol. "The black books in the chests in your room aren't stories, hon. They're the historical records of life before the Cataclysm, dating back to the beginnings of human civilization." Jack stumbled back against the door, surprised and a little in awe. It was a prodigious collection of books, many quite antiquated. Given what he'd seen of Magistrate Tulle, Jack had little trouble imagining what might happen if the corrupt woman were to get her hands on the precious records. "Where did they come from?" he asked softly. June tilted her head and stared at him strangely. "How can you have forgotten? They were your father's, before he was killed. And your grandfather's before that."

Jack swallowed hard and looked down. "Mom, if everything goes the way it should tonight, it'll be a step towards preserving that history," he said carefully. If he and the others found the Autobots, Raf had hypothesized that their proximity could bring about the timeline reset before things got out of hand. Or before the timeline settled and their previous way of life was erased completely. There was a danger of being caught, of course, but Jack wasn't afraid of humans. For a moment, he fingered the amber bead in his pocket-the gift from Frederica. He had a feeling that there were people in Jasper willing to hide them from the guards, if it came to that. "Mom," he said quietly, "They say the marks behind my ear make me a Speaker for the Anta. If that's what I am, then I have a duty to perform. I have to _listen_ before I can _speak_, and to listen, I have to find the Raa Anta."

He squeezed his mother's hand, and she suddenly became aware of a desperation in his eyes, a certain fragility that she could not ignore. "If they take you-" her voice cracked. Jack smiled. "I can take care of myself, Mom. I'm not worried about Tulle." Slowly, he released June's hand as she whispered, "I meant the Raa Anta, sweetheart. They're completely unlike you or I. Who's to say what they might do if you just approach one at random?" She stepped back, shocked, as her son swung a rifle over his shoulder with a practiced ease and slid the door open. "They would _never_ hurt a human," he declared firmly, "Never." Jack blew his mother a kiss and melted into the night. His workboots were loud against the stone, but as he apparently owned no other shoes, there was nothing he could do to change that. There was only one patrol in his part of town, and there was a good chance that they would be preoccupied with the street behind his-which was home to a rather uncouth set of individuals, Granite being among them.

As he ran, a chill came over him very like it had in the Forest and he almost stopped. **"Does he remember?"** someone whispered. **"It is just another human, F'ar,"** a second whisper answered, **"Why do you continue to torture yourself every lunar renewal?"** Jack stopped and ducked around a corner, listening. **"Because they are **_**ours**_**, Alkare! We failed them once before: never again."** And Jack knew the speaker. Carefully, he touched two fingers to the scars behind his ear, feeling for the place beneath the skin where his comm chip had settled itself. Would it react to thought? It was at least worth a try. _**Miko! Raf! I found them...or maybe they found me? I'm not sure, but I'm half a mile from the meeting place.**_

Something rustled in the shadows.** "Stop. What was that?"** the one called Alkare hissed, jet black against the sky. **"You felt it too?"** F'ar murmured, **"A private comm frequency."** A smaller shape stepped out from behind Alkare. **"They're close!"** she cried jubilantly. A message from Miko flooded Jack's awareness, disorienting him. It was not so much that he heard her voice or saw words in his mind, but he somehow knew exactly what she was saying._** On our way, Raf hurt his ankle. Keep them there five minutes. **_Jack sent an affirmative and stepped out from the shelter of the house. A strangled sound escaped F'ar as he stepped into the light. "...Jack?" The boy rubbed the back of his neck and smiled weakly. "Hey, Partner. We were starting to wonder where you guys were!"

Alkare blinked and loomed over him with a severe look. "What is your designation, Lion's Child, and why do you speak so familiarly to F'ar?" Jack swallowed hard and shifted back a step. "Um...I...it's a little hard to explain." Alkare's eyes narrowed as he stooped to view the human. "It's a little hard to explain.._.sir_." he growled. Right at this moment, a huffing, puffing Miko arrived, carrying Rafael on her back. "Save it, Commander," she gasped bad-temperedly as she lowered Raf to the ground, "We've got Thoron Anta inbound." Jack knelt beside the younger boy. "What happened, Raf?" he asked quietly. Raf made a face. "I twisted it, that's all. It'll be fine by morning...but Miko knocked a guard unconscious." The older boy gaped at her. "**Primus, K'anis**! What were you _thinking_?" Above them, "Alkare" looked more and more discomfited.

"Where are the Thoron Anta now?" he asked sharply. Miko pointed West. "They've got two Raptor Packs leading the way on foot, but from my sister's telescope I caught at least two Seekers coming in fast." Jack loaded the rifle while still crouched. "Great. Just great." Above him, the familiar whirr of a weapon being equipped caught his attention and all three humans yelped and jumped out of Alkare's way as he stormed towards the gates. "Alpha Trion's Beard!" Miko gasped, "Why didn't anyone _tell_ me he had a Hyperflux Cannon? What'd he do, rip off Shockwave's _arm_ to get it?" Arcee smirked down at the girl. "Pretty much, yes. I think you'll find him a little more aggressive than you remember."

"And you're a little more...more than I remember!" Miko retorted, taking in the femme's appearance. Armor that had been simple, blue and scratched was now more silver than anything else. Glyphs for fortitude and foresight were engraved on the edges of elegant swoops and curves of plating, giving her an air of almost barbaric splendor. She fit perfectly into the quasi-medieval feel of the village, and Miko could not shake the mental image of this Arcee leading troops into battle like an avenging goddess, a blade in one hand and a bird of prey upon the other.

"You look like Solus Prime!" Raf gasped in awe, and his glasses slipped down his nose a fraction. Arcee laughed and ran her servos through his thick hair affectionately. "Why thank you!" With a wry smirk, she explained that the reformatting of the timeline had effected appearances as well as circumstances. "You ought to see the others!" she winked. Then her smile faded. "Go home, all of you. Stay with your parents until this blows over." Equipping her own blasters, the femme moved to follow her companion. "What? No! We just found you guys again, why would we leave?" Jack protested angrily.

"Jack, don't fight me on this," Arcee warned, "There are _generations_ of protocol in place and I can't break them. We swore to protect Jasper: _all_ of Jasper. I have to go." Miko slammed a fist into her palm. "But we're a part of the team!" When Arcee did not respond right away, her face fell slightly. "...aren't we?" The slim femme struggled with whether or not to say anything. It wasn't fair! Two years of searching and battle comes the moment she found her partner? Arcee took that as proof that there was such a thing as the devil. "Just...get back inside. Don't come out the the Forest alone: wait for us to come to you. Do you understand?" She met the angry silence with a glare of her own. "Do you understand?" she repeated. Jack's expression was unreadable as his inclined his head ever-so-slightly in acknowledgment.

Her optics softened and she sighed. "Please. I _can't_ lose you again; I need to know you are safe while I'm out there fighting.' An explosion rocked the night and lit the sky a lurid orange. Jack took hold of Miko and Raf's hands and nodded to his partner. "Go. We'll be waiting." Arcee's shoulder guards sagged in relief. "I'll bash some helms for you, Partner," she promised, "Hurry up and get out of sight before one of Tulle's patrols catches you! Call me paranoid, but there's something I don't trust about that woman." With that, the Autobot—or rather, Raa Anta—disappeared over the palisade with a harsh war cry, adding to the confused sounds of combat.

Alkare stood at the north wall of the palisade, Hyperflux cannon aimed at the sky. **"The girl was correct,"** he bit out sharply in their own tongue, **"Two Seekers inbound. I downed one, the other turned back."** With a shake of her helm, "F'ar" drew two slim energon blades from her back and connected the handles. The two-sided weapon hummed through the air in spinning arcs as its wielder braced herself in a fighting crouch. The Raptor Packs surged forward out of the trees, firing at guards, at the walls, but never at the Autobots. They had long since learned that the Raa Anta were the prey of none save perhaps Kerythcor or the Hakarmaskannar Anta. Arcee whipped her sword through the air almost too quickly to be seen, deflecting the larger missiles.** "Alkare, where are the others?"** she shouted, barely catching a plasma grenade and hurling it back, **"The Raptors have never been this determined before!"**

Alkare swung a huge fist down, creating a shockwave that knocked most of the raiders off balance.** "Iirt hunts with the Draug this night, do you not remember? He agreed to take your place so that you could search Jasper again."** His optics widened almost imperceptibly as a throaty roar shook the Forest. Everything stopped at once: the Sentries on the walltop trembled and raised their rifles to their shoulders as the Raptors raised a mighty cheer. "_Grendel! Grendel! Grendel!_" they chanted. "Not the gestalt!" Arcee groaned, switching back to English without realizing it. At her side, Alkare scowled and readied his guns. "Ar is on his way," he murmured, "He will stop Grendel before he reaches the clearing."

F'ar nodded and grimaced. "We've got a while before the moon goes down," she clenched her denta. "This wall is _not_ coming down with it." Suddenly, her internal comm hummed to life.** "F'ar, are you at the human settlement?"** a younger voice piped over the link. "Go ahead, Halya." she replied tersely. The warrior sounded apologetic. **"We're gonna be a little late. Tyaro and I just found the impetus of the attack."** Listening in on his own comm, Alkare interrupted unceremoniously. "Well, out with it, soldier!" The grim pronouncement froze both Autobots in their tracks. **"It's Kaivolkalma. He's the one who ordered the Grendel in as backup."** Arcee exchanged horrified glances with Ultra Magnus. "Kaivolkalma? But he never leaves the wastes unless..."

Alkare clenched his fists. "Unless Kerythcor is on the move."


	8. Chapter 8

**So some folks were asking about the names of the Anta. Basically I took Elvish (or derivative Elvish) and either translated names or found a word matching their personalities.**

**Ar- Optimus**

**F'ar- Arcee**

**Iirt- Bumblebee**

**Fallaner- Ratchet**

**Andram- Bulkhead**

**Halya- Smokescreen **

**Tyaro- Wheeljack**

**Alkare- Ultra Magnus **

**Kerythcor- Megatron**

**Kaivolkalma- Soundwave**

**as before, bold print is Cybertronian**

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Chapter 8

_Clang_!

Halya's shield, raised in the nick of time, reverberated as the tentacles struck it, pushing him back several feet. Smooth, layered armor, meant for stealth, rippled nervously and clung to the young guardsmech's frame as he tended off Kaivolkalma's attacks. "What do you want with Jasper?" he demanded, knowing that he would be met with no answer. "Normally the Thoron Anta are content to let their humans carry on their feuds without intervening. What makes tonight so special?" He turned a backflip as another tentacle ripped away his shield, and activated the stealth mode of his armor. An energy field extended from his plating to draw from the surrounding trees, rendering Halya invisible to optic and sensor alike.

Expressionless as always, Kaivolkalma rotated his helm back and forth, listening. The ground shook as a heavy form barreled towards him. "For our Speaker!" Tyaro thundered, slashing away with his dual swords. Even as he silently directed Grendel to smash down the palisade, Kaivolkalma presented a glyph of confused innocence across his visor. "Don't play dumb, 'Con!" Tyaro gasped raggedly as he swung at the mech, "Two years ago our Speaker vanishes. His life signal goes offline days later. I got three witnesses that place you at the scene." So preoccupied was the silent mech with this burst of data that he was caught almost completely off guard when Halya materialized behind him and struck him to the ground. The Thoron and the Raa were enemies, and nothing was likely to ever change that, but even Kerythcor himself wouldn't stoop so low as to kidnap and murder another clan's Speaker!

The lithe creature squirmed, serpent-like, out of their grip and held out one hand. Tyaro and Halya tensed, readying themselves for the attack they sensed coming. A ghoulish shriek echoed through the woods as a small, clawed figure swooped low from the trees and flew at the mechs. It hissed and scratched, distracting them long enough for Kaivolkalma to vanish into the mists. A warning shot streaked past the deployer and it reluctantly retreated, leaving one last set of long scratches in Halya's faceplate. "Andram!" the younger soldier cried out in relief, "Are we glad to see you!" Olive green armor, almost invisible in the darkness of the forest, clanked softly as the Wrecker turned. "What's old Slendermech doing out of the wastes?" he growled, "He never leaves the volcanic vents if he can help it!"

Tyaro sheathed his blades and scowled. "Not unless you-know-who gave him marching orders." The sudden squeal of an urgent message on the open comm channel left them all wincing and grasping their helms.** "Tyaro! Andram! Halya! Get your gears to the palisade: they've summoned Grendel!"** Alkare snapped. Andram shuddered. "I hate that thing!" he groaned,** "Where's Ar?" **This time F'ar replied.** "He's on his way, but we need you here, now. The Raptors are hitting the weaker parts of the fence, and there's only so much we can do without hurting them."** Because heaven forbid a Raptor should be injured. Despite their legendary disregard for humanity, the Thoron Anta would rise up in fury and demand blood payment.

**"Andram." **her voice was softer now, awed.** "I found them. I finally found them." **Instantly the green mech transformed and sped towards the city. **"Miko? She's alright?"** he asked, concern coloring his normally boisterous voice. **"They're all okay, Bulk. And they all remember!" **The Wrecker sighed. "They remember!" he echoed, "It took 'em two years, but they remember!" He cleared a second comm channel, widening the broadcast range.** "Ar! Did you hear?" **The gentle tones of what the humans imagined was their king washed over the Wreckers as they drove on. **"Yes, my friend. It is indeed a welcome relief, yet we must concentrate on the task at hand. Grendel is taking a northward path to the city: cut him off before he reaches the edge of the Forest!"** With a sharp chorus of "Aahroh, Ar!" the Autobots split up and made for the north trails.

OooO

Within the city, alarms blared and guards rushed to and fro. "Volunteer fire department: all hands to the walls!" Troops of men and women carrying fire extinguishers of varying make and model darted towards the smoldering palisade, which shuddered under the impact of another blast. Nearly forgotten in the chaos, Jack herded the others into an alley. "My house is closest," he hissed as they ducked behind a house, "After the next group of guards passes, we'll make a run for it." He looked down as Raf tugged his sleeve, an expression caught between guilt and fright splashed across his face. "Jack, I got caught," he gulped. Jack patted his shoulder reassuringly. "Yeah, I know, **ats'ka**. Miko knocked the guard out. We're going to have to deal with that later."

"No, Jack you don't get it!" Raf adjusted his glasses miserably. "She saw the scars! She knows I'm a Speaker! When she wakes up, she's going to tell someone, Jack." Miko and Jack paled. "_Scrap_," Miko breathed, and Jack could not help but concur. Matters worsened when one of the passing fire brigades paused at the end of the alley. "Hey! Who's that down there?" a man called gruffly. Thinking quickly, Miko shouted, "Volunteers! We got separated from the group!" With Raptors at the gates and the Raa Anta in battle, there was no time to question the trio. "Right, come on. Grab a pail at the very least!" the other volunteer ordered. "Nice," Jack whispered, lightly punching the girl's arm. "Don't thank me yet," Miko answered grimly, "This isn't over by a long shot."

The three followed the small band towards the wall gate Jack and Sierra had used earlier in the week. Working quickly and quietly, the volunteers soaked the wood on their side to make it harder to burn. Those with extinguishers had the more dangerous position: they stood at the walltops, in the line of fire, putting out the small blazes that burst up under the blows of incendiary grenades. Everyone jolted as a voice rose over the hubbub. "_Hey_!" Rafael gasped and held up his pail as if it were a shield as several guards approached. "We're looking for a kid, about eleven or twelve. Spiky hair, wears glasses, has a Speaker mark. Seen him?" the captain asked the head of the volunteer firefighters. Raf dropped his bucket and squirmed through the crowd until he'd reached the others. "Looks like she woke up sooner than we thought!" he growled, and neither Miko nor Jack had to ask who "she" was.

Now they faced a dilemma: remain in the city and try to outrun the guards (who would almost certainly take them to Tulle), or take their chances outside the fence, dodging militant humans and Decepticons. They reached a wordless consensus almost immediately. Jack slipped under one of the temporary barricades and set his shoulder against the door. **'We have to be quick,' **he warned the others over the comm,** 'We can't risk any Raptors getting in here.'** Miko rolled under the barely-lifted door first. **'All quiet over here: they're attacking the main gate.' **she reported. Raf scrambled through next, and both held the door up long enough for Jack to escape. "Just like old times, right?" Raf chuckled dryly. All three winced suddenly as Arcee's voice rang in their ears.** "**What do you think you're doing out here?!" she sputtered, outraged, "I told you to go home!**" **Twelve yards away, she moved in graceful circles, deflecting grenades, but her angry optics were fixed on them.

**"The guards identified Raf, 'Cee! The gate was our only avenue of escape!" **Jack protested. The femme scowled fiercely, but relented. '**Fine**,' she snapped over their comms**. 'But until this is over, you hide. Do you understand me?'** The ground shook as a rusty, undulating bellow sounded from the trees. "Let's go," Jack gulped. Keeping their heads down, the children made a break for the fields, taking care to skirt the walls of Jasper, where the heaviest fighting was. As they ran, the earth trembled as something huge and heavy drew nearer and nearer. The shocks made it difficult for them to keep their balance, and Raf tripped. Before the older two even had time to realize he wasn't with them anymore, a massive, ugly thing burst from the woods.

Dark shades of charcoal and hematite lay in uneven layers of armor, like lava left to cool. Fiery optics glowered down at the city as five minds struggled to cooperate, honing in on a single command: destroy the walls, destroy the corruption. Grendel howled again, an earthshaking crash of metal against stone. Then he lumbered forward, massive digging claws dragging along the ground. He did not see the two organics that yelped and leaped out of his way, dodging into the outskirts of the Forest. Nor did he see the smaller third that remained on the ground, hidden behind a tree stump until he had passed. The Raptors gave way before the gestalt, shouting encouragements to the brutish Cybertronian.

In the edges of the Forest, Jack skidded to a halt. "Wait, where's Raf?" he asked. "You lost him?!" Miko cried out, horrified. She immediately began looking around. '**Raf? Raf! Respond! Are you okay?'** For two horrible seconds there was no reply. Then, blessedly, an answer. **'I'm alive, just scared. I can see a culvert leading under the stone part of the walls, I'm going to hide in there.' **The glyphs accompanying the words were shaky and full of connotations of security and near-misses. Jack relaxed slightly. That had been too close. '**Good call, Raf. Sorry for losing you,'** he included at least three pictographs for apology in his mental missive. '**Is there room for us down there with you?' **Unfortunately, there was not, and Jack and Miko were forced to look for their own hiding place.

"Okay," Jack wiped his brow and crouched to catch his breath a moment. "There's a clearing about half a mile from here with a bunch of stumps in a ring. I don't know why, but I feel like we'll be safe in the center." Miko raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Let's go." The teens moved as silently as they could through the outer edge of the Forest. The heavy canopy of leaves felt somehow more oppressive now, almost smothering. Miko stopped to disentangle her hair from a low-hanging branch and sighed. "When this is all over," she declared, "I'm going to sit and play Skyrim, and if an online player complains about the difficulty of their quest, I am going to _laugh_ at them." Behind her, Jack blinked oddly. The name sounded familiar, but for the life of him, he couldn't place it. "Sky-rim?" he asked slowly, "What's that?"

Miko whirled and stared at him. "The video game? Skyrim? Dude, I play it _all the time_, remember?" Mutely, Jack shook his head. Suspicious, Miko asked, "Well do you know what _your_ favorite video game is?" It took the boy the better part of a minute before he answered, "Halo Reach." He shook his head. "Why did that take so long to answer? It's like the data just...wasn't there!" Concerned, Jack ran a mental diagnostic to see if there were any other memory gaps. There were. At the moment, it was only small things: the color of his first bicycle, lists of dates from world history post-Civil War, the name of his kindergarten teacher. Then, with a soft thrill of horror, he realized that the secondary timeline was eclipsing the first. The past was erasing itself to reflect the new timeline: there would have been no World Wars, no Civil Rights Movement, no moon landing in 1969.

Which meant that all his past experiences with the Autobots would disappear as well, leaving him without the wealth of memories he'd come to treasure. He would never have been trapped in the Shadowzone with Raf and Miko, or been entrusted with the Key to Vector Sigma. Jack bent over, hands on his knees, and tried not to panic as he managed between gasping breaths to tell Miko what was happening. "Easy, **Y'ats'a**, easy," she soothed, taking a moment to smooth his hair. "Once we're all back with our 'Bots, everything will go back to normal. It has to!" Miko reached out for Jack's hands and drew him upright. "Now come on: you said the ring was this way?" Jack nodded after a moment and pushed through the underbrush. "Okay. Okay, we can do this." Neither teen saw the sniper crouched in the bushes.

In the culvert, Raf scooted back away from the entrance as Grendel lumbered past. He could hear the Autobots engaging him in battle, and by the sounds of things, a Wrecker or two had joined the fray.** 'Go get 'em, guys!' **Raf cheered on the open comm. **'What the- is that a kid?!' **a voice that was definitely Wheeljack squawked over the line.** "I'm a Speaker!" **Raf answered, almost apologetically**. "At least, I think that's how this works." **The Wrecker was silent for a moment, evidently concentrating on battle, then the human heard him murmur**, 'Is that what we're doing now? We're claiming babies? Cuz this kid sounds pretty young for Speaker-work.'**

The comm frequency went silent as the gunfire on the field intensified. Rafael gulped and crawled further into the drain. By the look of the wall, he guessed he was partway under the Echelon building, which made him feel a little safer. The stone would hold up better than the palisade. The water trickling in from the stream came dup to his elbows as he crawled, soaking his clothing and plastering his shirt to his skin. The boy shivered as short fingers touched slimy, algae covered stones. "Ew, Ew, Ew," he grunted scooting quickly through the murk, "I am _not_ cut out for field work!" Suddenly, his left hand caught on something cold and hard. It felt less like rock and more like metal, piquing his curiosity.

Raf pulled the object up, but it was caught on something. From what little of it he held out of the water, it looked to be a golden chain, such as the kind worn around necks in the old days. "Cool," he whispered, and tugged at the chain, trying to free it. Three times he pulled, with no results. Them be gave a mighty heave, and the chain left the creek, dragging the thing it had been caught on. A scream burst from the child's lips and he hastily dropped the glinting jewelry. Gleaming dull brown in the half-light, a slippery skull grinned up at him, staring out of empty eye-sockets. The chain had been wrapped around the neck, which wobbled loosely on the ribcage that barely protruded from the dark water. Faint traces of flesh and cloth still clung to the slippery form, preserved by the water's temperature.

A rusted stiletto in between the vertebrae of the neck, still sporting the twinkle of a jeweled hilt, loudly proclaimed the manner in which the man had died. Across the space where his ear would have been, a dark, twisting mark was etched into the bone. With trembling fingers, Rafael traced the mark behind his own ear. They matched almost perfectly. The dead man had been a Speaker. Whimpering, the child scrambled backwards away from the corpse, panic rising in his chest, clawing at his throat. Decepticons, he'd seen. Predacons, he'd seen. He'd witnessed Megatron's return, nearly died of Dark Energon poisoning, but never had he actually seen the body of one of his own species before. To find what was very clearly a murder victim was something he had no reckoning for.

Heedless of the warzone, the twelve year old dashed out of the culvert, utterly terrified. Blinded by fear, he did not see the tall form, reaching down with long, slender servos until it was too late.


	9. Chapter 9

**Happy Monday everyone! Or whatever day you end up reading this, I guess. I'd like to note that there's a passage in this chapter that I took from the epic poem "Beowulf". I only changed a few words from the original (which is, by the way, one of the reasons I love literature so much), so I can't claim it as my own work. Although I'm pretty sure that Beowulf is in the public domain. **

**Oh well. Roll out!**

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Chapter 9

Rafael barely had time to scream as dark talons wrapped around him, lifting him off the ground in a dizzying rush. Had he been a little more aware of his surroundings, he might have noticed the grenade that struck the place he had just been standing. Trembling, the boy stared up into the expressionless mask of Megatron's most trusted spy and braced himself for what was to come. The dark form rocked back on its pedes and brought its cupped hands close to its face to examine its prisoner. Well, it wasn't one of the Raptors, that was for certain. Kaivolkalma assumed that the child was one of the People of the Lion's, but he could not think of a reason for one so young to be out in the midst of battle. Perhaps he was fleeing Jasper? If so, Kaivolkalma did not blame him.

Grendel would tear down the walls of the city, and the Thoron Anta would keep the Raa Anta occupied long enough for the Raptors to conquer Jasper. Their humans would have the land and resources they needed, and Kerythcor would find and destroy whatever blot of corruption he had sensed within the enclosure. Something was rotten in the city of Jasper, and this close to the walls, Kaivolkalma could sense it. The trembling shape in his hands almost reeked of it, and the spy guessed that the little human had stumbled upon something unfortunate in the little hole he'd just crawled out of. Absently, he raised a servo to smooth the matted hair and calm the child. Raf flinched, and the mech had to remind himself that this was not one of the Fledglings that followed him around the wastelands so often: this was one of the Raa Anta's charges. The boy had every right to be afraid of him.

If he'd thought the frightened human could understand him, Kaivolkalma would have ordered him to go back down the culvert and tell him what he'd found there. But his Speaker-brand looked too new for him to know what it meant, and the Thoron Anta's Speaker was back at their camp, well-protected. He had no one to translate for him. Carefully, he shielded the boy in his hands and strode to the edge of the trees. Raf shook so violently as he was set on a high tree branch that he fell off twice, leaving a slightly exasperated Kaivolkalma to hand him over to Lazerbeak with instructions to put the boy somewhere out-of-the-way until the battle was over. The poor creature was only a child, after all.

* * *

The Wreckers burst into the clearing in time to see F'ar leap out of the way of a blow intended to flatten her. "About time you three showed up!" she growled, launching herself onto Grendel's back in an attempt to find his weak spot. "Alkare is holding the gates, but just barely! One of you go back him up, the other two can help me put down Sunshine here!" Halya, of course, immediately volunteered to go to Alkare's aid. No one was especially surprised, given how much the younger mech looked up to the Wrecker Commander. Tyaro wove in and out of the gestalt's legs with his blades behind him, hoping to take out vulnerable ankle-joints. Nothing seemed to work. "He's made of metal and rock!" he exclaimed, exasperated, "Our weapons aren't working!"

Something struck Andram suddenly: a scrap of text their late Speaker had read to him once, and he grinned roughly. "What'd ya expect, it's _Grendel_!" He subspaced his mace and blaster and clenched his fists. "You gotta do some things the old-fashioned way!" Planting his pedes firmly upon the turf so pockmarked by fire and grenade and cannon, Andram took hold of grisly Grendel's arm and, straining at the joints, bent it back and away from the walls of Jasper. Tyaro and F'ar conspired together that the gestalt should have no rest nor chance to shake free of their partner, and opened fire upon him. Enraged, the brute bellowed as he broke off his attack, swiping at his stinging optics.

In older days, when the last Speaker lived, the people of Jasper might have commemorated such a battle. As it was, Lydia Leander witnessed the fray from her window telescope and resolved that it would not be forgotten. In years to come, tales would be told of how Grendel stood rooted to the spot,

"For him the keen-souled kinsman of Ar

Apprehended - anathema alive

Was each to other. The gestalt dire

Took mortal hurt; a mighty wound

Showed on his shoulder, and sinews cracked,

And the bone-frame burst. To Andram now

The glory was given, and Grendel thence

Death-sick his den in the dark wastes sought"

The Raptors paused in their attack as their trump card howled in bitter agony, energon spraying from the twisted hole where his arm had been. Andram wielded the severed limb like a club and Grendel was knocked backwards several steps with a ringing clang. Two hours until the shields went back up. Grendel separated into his five component Decepticons, one of which was mangled nearly beyond recognition. Now that they were vulnerable, Arcee spun her blade rapidly in one hand, firing rapidly with the other. Smoke and light poured from the mouth and optics of one as he fell to the battlefield. Tyaro quickly cleaved another in two and headbutted a third. "Halya, how's it looking at the gate?" he shouted. After a few seconds, the younger answered, "They broke through the outer layer, but the secondary gate is holding. What about Grendel?"

"Sorted."

* * *

The Raptor scout in the brush slowly raised his rifle to his shoulder, trying not to alert the two teens in front of him. They had clearly come from within Jasper, but what were they doing out here? The man suspected they were looking for the Raa Anta. Well _that_ just wouldn't do. The moment he slid the safety off, it all went wrong. The boy's head whipped around and he pulled his own gun from his back, forcing the sniper to fire before he was ready. The shot went wide, clipping the edge of the intended victim's arm. Barely a scratch? How had he missed so badly? Dodger took advantage of the boy's pained surprise to leap out of the bushes, tackling him to the ground.

In the brief scuffle that followed, Dodger had just gotten his hands around Jack's throat when the clouds rolled away from the moon, shimmering faintly on Jack's scars. Dodger gaped and his grip lessened. "Merciless Ungwe!" he swore, "I attacked a _Speaker_?!" Roughly, he shook the younger man. "What are your Anta? Who do you belong to?" Speakers were rare, and zealously defended by the tribes that marked them. To attack even an enemy's Speaker was to invite retribution from both the aggrieved Anta and one's own people! Dodger grimaced as he reflected. He'd already shot at and injured a Speaker, and that alone could see him exiled. He shook his head. "I'll give them a _real_ reason to cast me out!" he snarled, and tightened his grip on Jack's throat.

Colorful lights swarmed across Jack's eyes as he choked. Where was Miko? Had she escaped? Jack struck out at his attacker, landing several solid blows to the head and ribcage. The grip loosened a fraction in pain, then tightened even more. Jack continued to fight, but with dwindling strength as darkness crept over the edges of his vision and his lungs burned. That's when he heard it. _Clack-clack! _Miko had retrieved and reloaded both Jack's rifle and the sniper's, and held them both. "Let him go!" she warned loudly, "You have until three, then I shoot." Dodger gave her a mock-pitying look, then turned back to the boy, whose struggles were weakening. She barely looked big enough to hold the weapon. Dodger was not worried about some little Jasper princess who thought she held a pop-gun. He'd kill her next.

Miko shook her head and steeled her nerves. "Last warning, dude." Her voice only shook a little, which she was slightly proud of. But Jack was running out of time and she could not afford to wait any longer. "1...2..." Dodger did not move. "...3..."

_Blam_!

In shock, Dodger let go of the boy's throat and felt with one hand the hole just beneath his ribcage. He looked up with wide, accusing eyes. "You...you _shot_ me!" he gasped. Then he collapsed to the side, holding his middle. Jack rolled to his stomach coughing, gasping for breath. As his face faded back into a normal coloration, he slowly pulled himself to his knees, wincing at the starbursts behind his eyes at the sudden movement. '**Thanks, K'anis,' **he commed, unable to use his vocal cords yet.

The girl stood, swaying slightly, eyes locked on Dodger. Then, hoarsely, she asked, "Are you okay, Jack?" Jack nodded, climbing up slowly and brushing himself off. "Head hurts like you wouldn't believe, but I can breathe now," he rasped. He started to move on, then paused next to Miko. "It was him or me, Miko. You did warn him: he made his own choice." Neither of them felt any better about the situation, but Jack knew that's what he was supposed to say, wasn't it? Miko opened a public comm line and called out, '**There's a man in the woods, and he's been shot! He needs medical attention!' **Then she took Jack's arm and, stumbling and assisting by turns, the pair made their way to the ring of stumps.

* * *

The ground shook. It was barely a vibration, but it was enough to let the Raptors know that something else was coming. And it was something they did not want to face. A glimmer of silver and crimson among the trees was all they needed to see before Kaivolkalma abruptly transformed and sounded the call for retreat. Kerythcor was not close enough to aid them, they were not ready to stand against Ar. The silent mech had not quite lifted off quickly enough, and a powerful hand gripped his wing and brought him crashing to the ground. "You are far from your home, People of the Falcon," a deep voice said sternly.

All movement ceased. The humans on the walls of Jasper dropped down below the parapets, silently averting their gaze. The Raptor packs drew slowly away from the gates, bunching together and murmuring nervously. The lurid glow of the fires along the wooden stakes gleamed, reflected in the burnished, scalloped chestplates as cerulean optics stared out over the engraved battle mask with quiet disapproval. He turned, still holding Kaivolkalma down with one hand, and quickly took stock of the situation in Jasper, then turned back to the aggressors. "You are all fortunate that there have been few casualties this night...on both sides. Return to the wastelands and tell Kerythcor to fight his _own_ battles!"

"Ar, there are three civilians outside of the walls," Alkare called, saluting brusquely. He failed to notice the grim looks exchanged by the wall guards, and the sharp hand signal their captain made to one of the patrols below. Outside, "Ar" nodded gravely. "Secure the walls, Alkare. Wreckers, ensure the Raptors' retreat. I will deal with Kaivolkalma." The last Prime drew the Star Saber from his back and the glow of the blade lit the approaching dawn's way. "Return to your master, Soundwave," he spoke calmly and quietly. "You will not take Jasper while we stand." The Decepticon transformed, still caught in Ar's grasp, and hissed. "_Fool!_" a voice pre-recorded played from the visor, "**Darkness has **_**come**_, and it _must be **cleansed with **_fire!"

Optimus hauled him to his pedes, and the battle mask retracted. His mouth was set in a thin, hard line. "Begone, teller of tales." With a mighty heave, he hurled Kaivolkalma into the air, where the spy had the presence of mind to transform and retreat. Taking their cue from him, the Raptor packs hastily departed, shooting hate-laden glares over their shoulders. There were too many Anta to fight: the battle was lost. Alkare moved to stand at his leaders elbow, and discreetly murmured that the walls were safe, as we're the city's occupants. Optimus nodded. "Follow them, old friend. We must make certain they do not attempt to double back," he returned. He turned to Halya. "Find Iirt and Fallaner," he commanded, "they must be informed of the recent developments." He strode towards the Forest, deep in thought.

"Ar?" He raised an eyebrow at the voice. "What is it?" he asked quietly as the Raa Anta melted into the shadows of the trees once more. The femme at his side made a little, worried frown. "The kids were out here during the battle," she said softly, "I sent them into the Forest to hide." Arcee relaxed slightly at her leader's approving nod. "It is certainly time they rejoined us," he mused, "I find that there is an unease growing upon my spark that will not be satisfied until I have seen the children with my own optics again." The "growing darkness" mentioned by Kaivolkalma worried him, and he had no intention of leaving the honorary Autobots in Jasper. Fallaner had hypothesized that when the children's memories returned, it would be a sign that the timeline was nearly ready to heal itself...or else cast off its old form and adopt this new world permanently. The archivist in him shuddered at the thought of so much incredible history, lost, wiped out.

* * *

Jack stopped and tilted his head, frowning. "Miko," he coughed, "My ears are still ringing. Can you hear anything?" The girl stared blankly at him, unseeing. "Miko?" Jack asked again. She took a deep, shuddering breath before making a questioning sound. Jack put a hand on her shoulder and realized that she was trembling. "Miko, what's wrong?" he asked, surprised. She made as if to speak, but only consonants could be heard. It sounded like "killed him". She locked eyes with her companion, and her gaze was haunted. "Oh, oh **K'anis**..." Jack wasn't sure what to do. "You don't know that you killed him! You sent out a distress call for him before we left, maybe his friends found him?"

Miko shook her head, hair flying. "Doesn't matter. He'll bleed to death before they can heal him. _I_ did this, Jack." Her voice took an oddly hysterical edge, uncharacteristic of the young Wrecker. "I took a _life_, Jack!" She dropped her forehead to his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her in an attempt at comfort. "Miko...this isn't the first time you've taken a life - and both times it was to save a friend." The girl pushed away, shutting her eyes. "That was different." Different? Jack clenched his fists and hoped that didn't mean she'd taken the death of Hardshell lightly. "Different _how_, Miko?" he asked gravely. She wouldn't look at him. "Humans are much more fragile, **Y'ats'a**, you have to be careful with them," she choked. Then, in a horrified whisper, "They break so easily."

"Well I would've been the broken one if you hadn't stepped in, **K'anis**," Jack reassured her. "Let's go back and get Raf, and then find our 'Bots. You can talk to Optimus about it, okay?" He was relieved to see her nod after a moment and took her hand. "Let's go." Rosy-fingered dawn stole down through the leaves as they left the outer skirts of the Forest, but there was no cheer in it for them. Fifteen armed men stood in a semi-circle, waiting. One of them held Raf in a vise-like grip, unhindered by the child's angry struggles. "You are under arrest, marked ones," the captain growled. "Come quietly and we will see that you are treated fairly. Any attempt at escape or interference with the Raa Anta will be severely punished."

Miko had time to send one coded distress signal before she and Jack were seized as well.


	10. Chapter 10

**I had some trouble getting this to upload today...not sure why.**

**Anyway, be forewarned that there is some violence in this chapter. (We all knew the guards from the end of last chapter were bad news, right? Okay, just checking. No spoilers then.)**

**As usual, bold print is speaking in Cybertronian**

* * *

Chapter 10

"Oh my _gosh_, Raf, what happened to your hair?!" Miko whispered as they were roughly hustled through the side gate. The small boy huffed. "Funny story, that. Apparently, this world's Laserbeak is female? And she's feeling broody. She tried to stuff me in a nest and proceeded to preen my hair. I think she'd gone looking for something to feed me when the soldiers found me." One of the soldiers in question shook him roughly, knocking his glasses askew. "Shut up!" he snarled. Jack dug his heels into the gravel, forcing his captors to a halt and glared at the one holding Raf. "Do not. Touch him. Again." There was something in his voice, familiar and unsettling. The guard shivered and released the smaller boy's shoulders.

At the head of the phalanx, the woman who had discovered Raf's Speaker mark whispered to the captain, "What now, sir? The head magistrate won't be able to attend to the matter for several hours." The mustachioed man scowled and his shoulders tensed. "We have more than enough to hold them on. We'll turn them over to Tulle's interrogators in the meantime. That's all we have to do." The other soldier glanced over her shoulder, catching Miko's vacant, chilling eyes. "Well," she whispered, "You'd better tell the interrogators to keep them separate. They pack quite a punch when they're together." Once inside the city, the group mostly kept to the shadows and back alleys, sternly warning the prisoners to keep quiet or suffer the consequences.

As the sun rose, the shields snapped back into place with a dull buzzing. Jack, Miko, and Rafael didn't have to see each other's faces to feel the loss of hope: the Autobots would no longer be able to hear their comms. They were on their own. As they passed through a narrow street near the market, a door opened and a tousle-headed woman looked out. Frederica's eyes widened as she saw Tulle's personal guard dragging three children towards the Echelon building. One of them was the kind young man who had helped her earlier that week. "Oh God protect them," she whispered, horrified. "Shield them and break the lion's jaw!" The woman hurried back inside and hastily threw on a bathrobe. Carefully wrapping her sleeping baby in a sling across her chest, Frederica stepped out into the misty morning. She had some calls to make. Determined, the shopkeeper strode towards the part of town where the healer lived.

* * *

The Raptors had almost all retreated, and none of them were entertaining thoughts of attacking Jasper again—at least, not yet. Thus when the distress beacons activated, Arcee felt no compunction to ensure that no one doubled back. Without a word to the others, she dropped what she was doing and sped back towards the city, cursing herself for leaving the children alone. The walls were emptied of guards now that the barrier was back up, and the huntress knew that there had to be overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing to justify bringing the shield down. Even then, only Optimus had the strength required to shatter the dome.

To her surprise, the femme saw Lazerbeak hurling herself against the barrier, shrieking angrily. F'ar caught the enraged cassette by the wings and pulled her away. "Where are the human children?" she demanded harshly. Out of the angry hissing and unintelligible squawks, words emerged. "Master give Lazerbeak Speaker-chick. Speaker-chick no got clan marks, chick mine! _Mine_!" The metallic bird wrenched both wings from the Autobot's grip and flung herself against the shield again. "Nest-robbers! Chick-snatchers! Egg-thieves hurt my fledgling! _Lazerbeak kill_! Kill!" The energon ran cold in F'ar's veins as she put the pieces together. "_Who_ took the Speakers, Lazerbeak? Where did they go?"

The cassette only continued to batter at the barrier over the Echelon building, screaming, "Lazerbeak kill nest-robbers! Kill all!" Arcee looked up at the stone structure, and a chill ran through her frame. **'Ar, soldiers took the kids,**' she snapped.** 'And I don't think it was to protect them if the way Lazerbeak is freaking out says anything.'** She took a moment to broadcast the deployer's hysterics to her leader, who responded with glyphs for confusion, concern, and interest all at once.** 'She says the "Speaker-chick" bore no clan marks?'** Ar mused, **'Yet we know for certain the children are marked as Speakers.'** Beside him, Alkare shifted uncomfortably. "Sir," he murmured, "Do you not recall? Without a clan mark, a Speaker may be claimed by any tribe of the Anta. It seems that perhaps Kaivolkalma intended to claim the smaller Speaker?"

**'Over my dead body!'** F'ar snapped. Optimus weighed their options in pensive silence, remembering Soundwave's warnings of a darkness in Jasper. Then he raised his helm, optics burning in the gloom of the Forest.** 'Summon Fallaner and Iirt, and contact the Draug,'** he ordered. **'If we hear nothing from the children within the next twelve hours, we will assume that we are dealing with a hostage situation and move to take them back.'** The Wreckers gaped at him, uncomfortable with the hard tone in his normally gentle voice.** 'But sir!' **Tyaro cried, **'The whole city of Jasper is our responsibility. We can't just endanger them all for the sake of three kids who got in trouble!'** He yelped as Bulkhead cuffed him sharply.

"You watch your mouth about my girl!" he growled. Ar held up a hand to silence them both. "Wheeljack is correct in that we are responsible for protecting more than our three humans," he said gravely, using his given name for the first time in years, "But I fear that if we do not intervene now, hundreds of innocents may be put at risk." Something like a sigh huffed over the line from Arcee. **'Optimus, with all due respect, I don't think we can wait twelve hours. If I don't hear anything in three, I'm calling the Draug to tunnel under the walls. I'm not losing Jack again.'** Lips pressed together in grim determination, she glared at the walls.

* * *

_Crack!_

That the blow was anticipated did not lessen its sting. Miko waited a moment for the ringing in her ears to fade before rotating her head listlessly to face the interrogator. "So tell me," she strained for a casual tone, "Do you do all of Tulle's dirty work, or are you only brave enough to hit girls?" The second slap left stars dancing in front of her eyes, but she kept a vacant, emotionless front. "Your insolence will be the death of you," the guard snarled. Unable to resist a Star Wars moment, she shot back, "Your faith in your friends will be yours!" Except that apparently Star Wars wasn't a thing in this world. The interrogator's eyes darkened, and she grabbed Miko by the collar, hauling her out of the chair so that their noses nearly touched.

"Let's get something straight _right_ now, kid: the fact that you are a girl is probably the _only_ reason you're not getting a beating like the boy." Suddenly Miko realized why Jack had blocked his comm and her blood boiled. "You go and tell them: you don't _touch _my brother," she hissed. Her voice was colder than wind. "I have blood on my hands. If you hurt my family, you're going to find out." She was flung roughly back onto the metal foldout chair as the interrogator began to circle her again. "Who gave you your Speaker mark?" she demanded. Miko tossed her head. "Nobody. Had 'em as long as I've been here." Which was, of course, the truth. It just sounded like a lie. Miko did not react at all as her hair was seized and pulled, forcing her head back. _They don't hold a candle to Decepticons_ she told herself.

"We already know there's a plot to overthrow the head magistrate," her captor growled, "There's no use lying about it. Where is the attack coming from? Who else knows about the last Speaker?!" The handcuffed girl blinked and tilted her head from side to side, considering. Then, she chuckled. "_Boy_ are your wires crossed! Lady, if I knew there was a movement to get rid of TuTu, I'd have joined it _years_ ago!" Quietly, she pondered the other question and tapped into Rafael's comm. Thankfully, the smaller child hadn't closed off the link like Jack had, allowing Miko to confirm that he had not yet been physically harmed. **'Raf, do you know anything about "the last Speaker"?'** she kept her focus straight ahead so that no one could suspect her of running messages.

**'I'm sorry, Nene'!' **The message accompanied glyphs of shame and guilt.** 'I didn't mean to tell them I saw the skeleton, it just slipped out!'** Soothingly, Miko urged Raf to explain. **'In the culvert, when I was hiding, I found a body. The last Speaker was murdered, Miko!'** It was not difficult to put two and two together. The interrogator was a little too interested in finding out how many people knew the last Speaker was dead to be concerned with justice. Miko glared at the guard and shifted a little in her seat.** 'It's okay, Ats'ka. You did fine. Did they hurt you?' **She was relieved to recieve a negative reply. **'They hit me once and took my glasses, but then they just put me in solitary confinement. Nene', why won't Jack answer his comm?' **Miko wasn't sure how to answer.

* * *

Jack spat out blood from a split lip, noting with detached interest that it had landed vaguely in the shape of Brazil. He was caught off guard when the boot connected with his ribs, but he didn't have enough energy to make a sound. Evidently, pummeling and kicking prisoners was par for the course when you were in Tulle's personal guard. Colorful lights danced across his vision as something struck the back of his head, and for some reason, all Jack could think of was, _Well, this is going to make weapon smithing a little difficult tomorrow._ He didn't know where his friends were: he'd blocked communication with them when the punching started. He didn't want Raf or Miko having to share his pain, not even if it was just by hearing his scattered and distracted thoughts. He'd been beaten up before, when he was a middle-school kid, but this was different. These weren't middle-school bullies, these were adults who didn't have to worry about getting in trouble with the teacher. Jack was tired of fighting, but he did not dare open his mouth. They wanted to know about his Speaker marks and the Anta? Good luck. They weren't going to get a peep out of him.

"Alright, I think he's had enough," someone grumbled, and the door creaked open. Jack dimly registered a pair of outrageous blue high heels and guessed who had entered the cell before she spoke. "Well I knew the Leanders' adopted brat was involved, but I really hadn't expected the healer's boy." Long-nailed fingers dug into his bruised scalp as Tulle cooed, "Really, I ought to thank you. I've been looking for an excuse to confiscate your mother's books for quite some time now, and you've just provided it!" Inwardly, Jack cursed his stupidity. If the head magistrate confiscated his mother's books, generations of history, literature, and philosophical works would be lost. The realization that it would create a situation rather like _The Book of Eli _almost amused him enough to laugh. Aloud, he whispered, "You're getting those volumes over her dead body!" Adelaide sniffed in condescending disgust and stood, wiping her bloody hand on a nearby guard. "Yes, that would be preferable. I simply can't _abide_ fractious people, can you?"

She frowned down her long nose at the battered teen as he slowly pushed himself to his knees, arms trembling. "If you so much as try to hurt my mother, I'll see you to the Pit for it," Jack rasped, "To say nothing of what Ratchet will do." The soldiers drew back, shuddering, and Tulle aimed a vicious kick at the young man. "Do not presume to speak the names of the Anta, boy," she sneered. "No." Jack glared back with equal ferocity. "_You_ don't presume to speak of them. You know _nothing_ about them! They know what's been done, Magistrate. They will come for us." He spoke with such finality that one of the guards paled and dropped his spear. Tulle laughed a twinkling, bell-like laugh and bent down to look Jack in the eye. "Let them. The anti-spark is as powerful as the spark. Perhaps even more so." The smile widened as she noted the boy's look of horror. Yes, he understood now. She pretended not to hear the hushed and fervent burst of Cybertronian—an old turn of phrase meant to ward off evil.

Tulle swept out the door and her smile vanished. "Magistrate," one of her aids murmured in the corridor, "The prisoners' families and several others have gathered upstairs. They are demanding the release of their children." For a moment, Adelaide's eye twitched, but then she smoothed her face into a saccharine smile again. What did it matter? "The Speakers know too much, Varton. I need them dead." The aid started slightly. "Dead? But madam, they're children! What excuse could we possibly give for killing them?!" He was brushed aside as the thin woman made her way down the hall, stopping to glance into the room where Miko was still being questioned. A purple bruise on the girl's cheek showed as evidence to how often she'd defied the interrogator thus far, yet her eyes still blazed with confidence. That one would not be easily broken. Tulle's eyes narrowed.

"I don't know, say they were supplying information to the enemy. You caught them outside the fence, didn't you? Look, I don't care _how_ you do it, just do it and do it _now_!" She stormed up the stairs, calling over her shoulder, "I'll be in my inner sanctum until dusk: I am _not_ to be disturbed until then!" Her fingers nervously twisted the violently purple stone on her finger. Plans had to move forward. Sacrifices had to be made. In the grand scheme of things, four Speakers was a small price to pay for immortality. Provided, of course, that no Anta discovered her until after the Sleeper had awoken once more.


	11. Chapter 11

**I left off last Monday with a bit of a cliffhanger, didn't I? Well, it's Monday once again and I'm back with the weekly update! **

**Hasbro owns the Transformers copyright, unfortunately. All words and situations within the tale, however, came from my own mind. Except for one line near the end that I took from one of the movies.**

* * *

Chapter 11

The ring of stumps had stood inviolate for one hundred years, a place where humans and Anta alike could hold debates, officiate births and weddings, bring complaints, or simply celebrate.

Now it held a council of war.

On one half of the circle stood the Autobots, now joined by one who seemed so like a tree himself that there was hardly a trace of his amber and white armor beneath years of moss and vines. On the other half of the circle stood a young one of their species, tall and proud with a bow slung across his golden doorwings.

**'Is it true?' **he asked, his voice a series of humming and buzzing tones, **'Do they truly remember now?' **His answer was a slow, solemn nod. The golden youngling threw back his helm and made an indescribable sound of joy, startling the wild, shadowed things at his back. "Brother, our brother, warn us when you are about to initiate a howl!" The complaint came placidly from a wolf standing as high as Iirt's pauldron. "You nearly startled our little brothers and sisters!" The long snout twisted quickly, pointing back to the two human youths on his back and the myriad gleaming eyes in the dark. For the Draug Anta go nowhere without their humans, deeming them inseparable components of the kinship grouping. The People of the Wolf were wild, quick handed, clever people, ever ready to hunt.

Iirt bowed his helm apologetically. **'Please excuse me, Silverbolt. I often forget that you travel with young.' **The wolf's jaws hung open in an easy grin as he assured the scout that Draug children were not as easily frightened as all that. "Chak, Una!" he said in a suddenly more stern tone, "What has Lio told you about climbing on Anta strange to you? Get down at once!" As he'd been talking, the boy and girl on his back had decided to see whether the creature across the ring was an Anta or a tree. "But **T'o't**," the boy began in an explanatory tone. A slim femme melted out of the darkness, narrowing four red optics. "No buts, Chak. Apologize to Fallaner and get out of his branches this instant! That is _not_ respectful!" The twins sighed piteously, and with a mumbled, "**Aaroh, Its'a**," slid down.

As the two scrambled back up onto Silverbolt's back, one of the wildings, covered with white and gold fur, came to stand in the center of the ring and bowed respectfully to Optimus. "Ar, for every full moon for two years, we have helped you comb the forests and the towns for the youngest members of your pack. The male cubs and the girl-child. Tonight you call back the hunt before its time. Have you then found them? What is this council about, Ar?" Having spoken his piece, the leader of the Draug Anta bowed his helm and stepped back a pace. Optimus stood and leaned on his sword with a grave air about him. "They have indeed been located, Lio Convoy. However, all three children have been taken prisoner by humans within the city who wish to do them harm. That is why we have summoned you."

Among the trees a low murmur of human voices began to rise with the snarl of a tiger, the snort of a rhinoceros, the hiss of creatures thought long extinct. To intentionally harm a sentient being was taboo to the Draug: to harm a child was unthinkable. In a choking, furious voice, Lio growled, "Give us the scent. The Draug will end this." Before their optics he transformed, taking the shape of a colossal lion, baring its fangs. F'ar stood from her stump and held out a hand. "Believe me, Lio, I'd like nothing more. But the inhabitants of Jasper are innocent, and we don't want to start a panic. We need the stealth of the Draug to get me under the walls to rescue the kids. Ar will directly confront the guard for psychological purposes to grant us time."

"_Time_?!"

The "tree" moved suddenly, as if that word alone had brought him out of hibernation. "Time!" he repeated sharply. All optics turned to Fallaner, who grumbled under his breath. "What _about_ time, Ratchet?" Bulkhead asked warily from his seat. "We're running out of it!" the older mech snapped. "In the two years we've been here I have reviewed every ancient text I could get my servos on and if Jhiaxus's Law of Temporal Dynamics is credible, then we are facing Event Convergence in a matter of hours!"

"And if the kids aren't with us when the tempest hits..." Bulkhead trailed off, hardly needing to voice the fears of his companions. Being heavier, both literally and in the sense that they were all centuries old, the Cybertronians would weather the time-storm and find themselves back where they belonged (or, so went the theory). Something as small and short-lived as a human being stood no chance alone. Without the Autobots in physical proximity, Jack, Miko, and Rafael would simply vanish with the rest of this alternate world - utterly erased from existence. Arcee's optics hardened. "We move _now_," she snapped. No one felt like arguing with her.

* * *

"Get up!"

Instinctively, Jack felt the blow coming and curled up as quickly as his bruised body would let him in an attempt to prevent worse damage. Jack was no expert, but he suspected that another kick to his ribs would fracture them. "What are you, stupid? You think he can stand up on his own?" a second voice sneered, and someone pulled his forearms away from his face. A low whistle echoed in the stone room, blowing his hair out of his face - the hairs not plastered to his forehead with dried blood, that is. Jack squinted up into the face of a man only about ten years older than him.

There was a momentary flash of compassion in the guard's dark eyes, quickly masked by disdain. "Geez guys, what happened? You forgo black eyes in favor of split lips and lacerations? Looks too messy to be effective to me." He spat upon on hand and used the moisture to wipe some of the dark stain from the prisoner's temple. "Hey man, don't ask me to clean your gloves after this!" The woman at the door rolled her eyes at him. "Shut up, Manuel. You don't know anything! The kid's a punk, alright? Stubborn as anything." She shrugged carelessly, showing her lack of concern for the state the boy was in. "Take him to the Grey Room while I get the other two."

Manuel drew back, revolted. "The Grey Room?! Come on, Lalia, he's a kid! A _kid_! They're gonna execute him?!" Lalia shrugged thin shoulders, expression blank. "I don't make the rules, Manuel. _He's_ the one that was in the Forest." As she left, Manuel eased Jack's arm over his shoulder and heaved the exhausted teenager to his feet. "Sorry kid," he muttered, "This is going to be a little harder than I thought." He turned his head, and just for a second an amber bead caught the light as it swung from a braid behind the man's ear. Jack's eyes widened. "_Frederica_," he whispered. Quickly, the guard shushed him as he was dragged into the corridor. "Keep your voice _down_, boy! She's under suspicion as it is!"

He glanced back and forth, glaring. "Tulle's guards don't need to have those fears confirmed, understand? The Fishermen Organization uses me to gather intel on Tulle's darker dealings. I was supposed to sneak you and your friends out." He stopped at a square door made of reinforced steel. "Looks like that isn't happening though." Jack tipped his head to the side, unable to summon the strength to turn it all the way. "What's... the Grey Room?" he asked, a whisper of fear running through his voice. Manuel looked at him pityingly. "That's where condemned prisoners wait before being taken to the walltops and shot. Specifically, that's where Tulle keeps condemned prisoners when she doesn't want the other magistrates to know what she's doing."

Trembling, Jack shut his eyes and forced himself to try to breathe slowly to stall the panic. **'Arcee, where are you?!'** he cried out on his comm, knowing full well she couldn't hear him. Aloud, he whispered, "Please, I know you don't know me, but _please_ get Miko and Raf out of here. They didn't do anything wrong!" The door swung open with a foreboding creak and he was pushed into the brightly lit enclosure. "Just keep your eyes open, boy. They're counting on everyone being asleep still." With these enigmatic words, he left, slamming the door shut behind him. Without Manuel supporting his weight, Jack crashed to the floor in seconds. There was a gasp from somewhere nearby and suddenly Raf was there, holding up his head. "Jack! Are you okay?" From his other side he heard, "Why would you even ask that, Raf? He looks like he went ten rounds with Rumble!"

Two pairs of hands pulled him gently into a sitting position, and it was then that Jack saw the blossom of purple on Miko's cheek. "Who did that, **K'anis**?" he demanded, fury that someone had dared strike a member of his family overriding his fear of being shot. Miko brushed a hand over the bruise and made a feral little half smile. "I'm a lot more patient than the interrogator, lets put it that way." Jack leaned back against the wall and smiled back. "You are _such_ a Wrecker," he sighed. The smile fell away as he took in the bleak metal walls. "They're going to have us killed," he said softly. Small fingers interlaced themselves with his as Raf whispered, "I...I don't want to die, Jack."

"Me either, Raf, me either." Jack pulled the smaller boy close and winced as his muscles protested mightily. Miko said nothing, but her eyes were hard as the three huddled miserably in the corner. Then, in a fierce whisper, "If they shoot us on the walltops, we go down fighting, eyes to the Forest." The boy's glanced over at Miko, surprised. She turned to look at them, determination written across her face. "If we're gonna die, then we're gonna die like _Autobots_." After a moment, Jack and Raf nodded, and the three linked hands, waiting. When the guards came to take them to the walltops, the fear was gone, and in its place was an eerie calm.

* * *

.

Magistrate Tulle patted her hair into place, hurrying at the head of the phalanx. "Hurry _up_!" she snapped. "The families are still in my office waiting for me to negotiate a release! We've got four minutes to get this done. No mistakes!" The moment they were under open sky, all stealth was lost in a thunderous screech. Something flung itself at the dome, bouncing off and wheeling around for another attack. **'Speaker-chick! Mine! Nest-robber no kill my speaker-chick! Lazerbeak kill!'** Even without his glasses, Rafael recognized the sound. Struggling, he freed one arm from the soldiers' grip and waved it frantically. Decepticon help was better than no help at all.

Lazerbeak caught the signal, and surprisingly, understood it. She pulled up swiftly and flew to the edge of the Forest, lighting on an outstretched arm. **'Nest-robbers got speaker-chicks, gonna kill!'** she squawked, **'You move quick now, gonna lose speaker-chicks!'** Optimus nodded once and activated his comm. **'Arcee, move your unit into place. I will provide a distraction. The mist will obscure your entry point. But hurry!' **He launched Lazerbeak into the air and stormed towards the walls of Jasper. The people of the city appeared to have gathered in the streets and on rooftops, even before he left the tree line. If he found out they were there to witness the execution, there were going to be consequences.

* * *

.

Through the barriers, the protestors gathered by the Fishermen Organization felt the ground begin to shake. They scrambled onto the walltops and stood at the edges of the city, watching, waiting. A shadow moved in the mist, and two sapphire orbs burned in the blanket of white, shining down on them. The nervous guards murmured a collective greeting and bowed their heads, each holding up the symbol of the lion's head to proclaim their loyalty even as they prayed that the shield would hold. Those in the streets merely watched, tight-lipped. Many gestured to the wall where the Speaker trio had been forced to kneel.

"**Nene'**, who is it?" Raf whispered, squinting. Without his glasses, he could not see the eyes. The hands holding them did not give an inch, even as Miko strained against them. "One of ours, **Atsk'a**. They're here for us!" she all but crowed. Tulle cuffed her sharply, eliciting a warning glare from the two boys. "Mind your tongue before the Raa Anta!" the woman snapped, putting on a charade for the citizens as best she could in her frazzled state, "They never come during the day but when matters are grave indeed! It is my suspicion that they have learned of your repeated irreverence and your unnatural behaviors, and have become angry!" The children huffed or rolled their eyes at the thought. Jack frowned, suddenly troubled.

"But...we used the distress signal when we were captured...so why didn't they come for us until now?"he murmured to the others. Miko shook her head in lieu of a shrug. "I don't know, **Y'ats'a**, maybe they've been chasing off Raptors?" Beside them, Rafael hung his head and voiced a childlike fear. "Or maybe we did something wrong." With the guards pinning their arms behind their backs, Jack and Miko were unable to physically comfort the little boy, and each lapsed into what seemed a morose silence. Over their comms, however, the older two quickly reassured the third that this could not possibly be the case. **'The Autobots would _never_ leave us behind, Raf. Name _one_ time when we were forgotten!'** Miko challenged.

Raf hung his head. **'I can't. The memories are there, but...they're starting to get fuzzy, like they're disappearing!' **He looked up in horror. **'The timelines are converging. We have to get back to our fixed points before we forget _everything_!' **Jack and Miko squinted at him. **'Fixed points? What fixed points?'** Jack asked. **'The 'Bots!'** Raf was almost frantic. **'They're our constant! If we can get into physical contact with them before Event Convergence, we'll keep our memories. I think.' **The elder two cast each other grim looks, then turned pleading eyes up to the aqua lights in the mist. _Don't leave us!_ they silently shouted, suddenly worried again.

Magistrate Tulle straightened her robe, hoping against hope that the Anta hadn't come for the Speakers. They were too young to have _actually_ been in contact with the guardians! None of them even bore clan marks! Which meant, on further analysis, that any kind of Anta might show up, any at all! Young Speakers were rare, and three in the same generation in the same town was unheard of! Trembling, Tulle stared up at the stern blue eyes. It was too soon! Too soon! There were nine days left before the eclipse, when she could awaken the Sleeper. That's why she'd decided to execute the Speakers now, so that the Anta couldn't interfere! She was going to have to talk quickly to get out of this.

In the fog, the blue lights narrowed, and a thunderous voice spoke words they did not understand. The people trembled, for that voice was seldom heard. It was the king of the massive beings himself! What could he possibly want of them? No one had spoken the language of the Raa Anta since the mysterious disappearance of the last Speaker, for the magistrates' supervisor had forbidden its study as being too lofty for common folk. The titans hardly ever spoke to them anyway, giving them little reason to _want_ to learn it. The colossus waited a moment, then repeated his query. Taking advantage of the guards' distraction, Raf twisted out of their grasp and snatched his glasses back. As his friends followed suit, he dashed to the parapet, waving his arms and shouting.

"Here! We're down here, Optimus!" he cried, catching the Autobot's attention. The soldiers gasped at his outburst and drew back. Didn't he know it was bad luck to speak the giants' true names aloud? There were standard procedures for a reason! Tulle squeaked in dismay and scuttled forward to pull Raf away from the ledge. Jack dove forward and blocked her path determinedly as Raf called out, his voice cracking slightly, "Optimus, why didn't you come get us? Did we do something wrong?" The dark shape melted out of the mist and a great hand stretched towards the child, halting at the invisible barrier. The regal tone was troubled. **'Oh, child, is that what you thought?' **Raf scuffed his feet and looked away, nervous or embarrassed. "**Je, T'o't,"** he admitted. **'Is everyone alright?' **Optimus asked gently.

Miko wrapped an arm around Raf's shoulders and grinned fiercely. "Yeah, Optimus. Now we are. What now?" she called. The Prime did not miss the ugly mark on the girl's cheek, nor Raf's disheveled appearance, nor Jack's weakened stance. And was that _blood_? His optics darkened and he leaned down. **'_Who harmed you_?'** he growled. **'The guards, sir. All the ones wearing the violet star are under Tulle's command,' **Jack answered. All around them people gawked at the sight of mere children answering Ar of the Raa Anta in his own language. Their astonishment grew tenfold when Ar spoke sharply to the magistrate in the Common Tongue. "What right do you have to hold my people captive? They are not under the authority of the magistrates!"

The saccharine woman sputtered and spluttered for several seconds before answering in her high, haughty voice, "Forgive my _presumption_, O Ar of the Celestial Blade, but are they _not_ of the People of the Lion?" Jack could have sworn that Optimus rolled his optics, and with good reason. "_Ar of the Celestial Blade?_" the boy chuckled. Optimus shot him a stern look, clearly warning him, _Don't even start._ He raised his helm and spoke in a voice nearer to a mild earthquake than a displeased Prime. "Did you think all your deeds could be kept secret forever, Magistrate Adelaide Tulle? Taking the children was a _bad move._" He held up one hand, fist clenched, and the edge of the Forest came alive with movement. "You took three of ours. We will take them back."

* * *

.

Even as Optimus stood at the walls of the city, in full battle regalia, Arcee and the Draug slipped quietly through a tunnel they'd carved through the very culvert Raf had hidden in. It didn't take long to discover the body. Una found it first, having been brought in case of small holes and tight spaces. "**Its'a! Its'a!** Look!" she cried, "A dead Speaker!" Arcee stared down at the skeleton with pity. He'd been alive the first few months they'd been there, always helpful, always kind. "Be at peace, Reul," she murmured as they moved last him. The spider-like femme that Una called "**Its'a**" scowled and laid a comforting hand on "F'ar"'s arm. "It doesn't make any sense!" Blackarachnia said mournfully. "Why would anyone want to kill a Speaker?"

"You want _my_ guess?" came the shuddering reply from the front of the line. Their scout had returned from the low-ceilinged passage ahead. With a brisk shake, the rat transformed into a small, kneeling mech a little shorter than Arcee. "I'd say it was 'cause he found something he was t s'posed ta see! And I don't think _we're_ s'posed ta see it neither!" He pointed grimly behind him to where a sluggish purple light oozed out around the stones. "Dark Energon!" Arcee gasped, pulling back. "It's worse than that, F'ar," the rat added apologetically, "I saw the room before the dark stuff forced me out. It ain't a natural deposit."

"Then what is it?"

"A shrine."


	12. Chapter 12

**I know it won't actually be Monday for another two hours, but as I'm actually going to have a lot of work to do tomorrow, I thought it best to post it now :)**

**I think it only fair to warn you now, there are some rather intense parts in this chapter. Well, I thought they were intense, anyway. Maybe "icky" is a better adjective.**

**Anyway, as usual, recognizable characters belong to Hasbro. The rest is mine ;)**

* * *

Chapter 12

"A shrine?" Arcee demanded, horrified, "Are you sure, Rattrap?" The Draug scout nodded grimly. "I wish I weren't. There's somethin' else, too. Somethin' _worse_." Beady red optics shot over to Una, who clung to Blackarachnia, frightened. "Send the girl back to the Forest, 'Nia. She don't need to go anywhere near that mess." Against the femme's protests, Arcee quickly agreed. "_Trust_ me, you don't want to allow even the _possibility_ of Dark Energon exposure. I've seen what it can do to a human child." Her optics shuttered briefly, trying to block out memories of Rafael lying helpless, unresponsive in her arms as she had carried him back to base.

Reluctantly, the spider-femme released her hold on the young teen. "Go back to **T'o't** and your brother, darling," she murmured, "Tell them what we've found." The dark-haired girl nodded once and bolted for the entrance of the culvert. Blackarachnia turned back to Rattrap and "F'ar". "We have to go in there, don't we?" she asked with a grimace. F'ar shrugged, silver shoulder guards clashing musically. "We may not _have_ to go in, exactly, but if we want to get to the surface, we'll have to pass very near to it. We may as well find out who built the shrine and why." Being relatively small, as Cybertronians went, all three were able to squeeze through the hole with minor difficulty.

On the other side of the wall was a room four yards wide and seven yards long. At the bottom of a low pit in the center was a charred and blackened brazier beside a rusted grate, through which came the evil amaranthine glow of the Blood of Unicron. Crude likenesses of the Unmaker carved of obsidian squatted around the edges of the room: ugly, grimacing idols. The Draug femme's golden helm swiveled back and forth, mouth agape in astonishment. "By all that is holy," Rattrap gasped as he stood beside her. "I've always known there was a penchant for wickedness in the hearts of humanity, but _this_? This is _sick_!" Steeling herself against the waves of oppression rising out of the pit, Blackarachnia inched forward and peered down.

With a sharp cry, she reeled back. "We have to warn Ar," she looked upwards at the ceiling, finding a patch of stone that had weakened over the years. "And we've got to get those kids out of here!" If F'ar or Rattrap had been brave enough to look down the fire grate as Blackarachnia had, they would have seen a long shaft cluttered with bones. Some of animals, some of men, and some so very small that they did not bear thinking about. The Draug femme shot a strand of web up to the stone and tugged. "Here," she grunted, "Help me! We'll go straight up through the tower!" Arcee took hold of the line behind the other and with a mighty pull, they brought two thick blocks of stone tumbling down.

Arcee climbed through first, optics narrowed and scanning. Her gaze fell on two guards at the end of the hall wearing violet stars on their arms. The man gaped and dove for his comm. "Anta in the castle! I repeat, red alert, Anta are in the castle!" he cried. The alarm was cut off abruptly as the woman beside him slammed her rifle butt into his stomach, dropping him. She raised her visor and nodded to the Anta. "North walltops, that way." she pointed towards a flight of stairs. "I'll tell the others to start a riot in the square." Rattrap snorted as he eased his way out of the hole. "Smart move, Lioness." The woman smiled and pushed back the lapel of her coat, revealing an amber pin shaped like a fish. "We've been waiting for this chance for a _long_ time, ma'am," she said to Arcee.

Arcee transformed, taking the shape of an armored bike - more Cybertronian than Earth design. "Get on," she ordered, and the guard hastened to obey. As the Autobot and her companions charged up the stairs, she addressed the human in a softer tone. "It never should have gotten to this point. We should've known something was up and come to check on you all earlier. I'm sorry." The grip on the handlebars tightened and loosened in an approximation of a shrug. "It wasn't _your_ fault," she said kindly, "We didn't have any Speakers to warn you. _We're_ the ones who let things get out of control, not you." The motorcycle skidded to a halt in an upper hall, and the guard hopped off. "Doesn't matter," Arcee insisted as she switched back to her bipedal form, "We should've sensed something was wrong." She shook her helm. "Tell the Fishermen to make as much noise as they can, but to get the civilians away from the castle. Far away."

* * *

Adelaide Tulle's mind was racing. There was a host of Anta at their doorstep, hell-bent on reclaiming their Speakers, and the brats' parents were already halfway up the steps. For five unarmed civilians, they were certainly taking a toll on her personal guard. June slammed a fist into the side of a soldier's head and yanked her gun away. "Tulle!" she hollered, "Touch my son and you'll pay in _blood_!" There were cheers from the crowd that had gathered in the streets. From a balcony, Magistrate Xiaojian looked out and began chanting, "Free the Three!" It was quickly taken up by the rabble, and it rose to a roar. "_Free the Three! Free the Three!"_ The Anta king looked undeniably pleased at this development.

The smallest Speaker still perched precariously on the balustrade, one tiny hand outstretched as if he could touch Ar through the shield. For a moment, Tulle was sorry that the barrier was up. A fall from that height would be fatal. Then again, she realized, Ar stood close enough that he would have easily caught the boy. As the protestors began to overwhelm her forces, Adelaide saw her dreams of immortality and power begin to crumble before her very eyes. The Sleeping One still needed three more deaths before he could even slightly awaken. She had failed. But Head Magistrate Tulle was nothing if not determined. They still had a barrier, did they not? The Anta could not stop her if she moved quicker than the mob. Drawing a serrated blade from her sleeve, she stepped toward the eldest boy, who still stood with his back to her, blocking her path to the youngest.

"Jack! Look out!" June shouted from below. The boy whirled about, and his eyes widened when he saw the knife. "**_T'o't_**!" he cried as he threw forward his hands to block the weapon. If Optimus had been angry before, now he was furious. "Bring the barrier _down_!" he thundered, "Shatter it if you must! _No one_ dies today." In the streets, members of the Fishermen Organization flooded the gatehouses and guard towers, shutting down the controls for the shield even as Autobots battered away at it. In a half-mad panic, Tulle screeched to her followers, "Open fire! Kill them all!" Pulling away from her failed attack on Jack, Tulle darted down the stairs, stopping only to plunge the knife into the unprotected back of one of her own men. "_One_," she counted breathlessly, dodging the falling body and slashing the throat of one of the rioters, "_Two_!" Then her eyes locked onto Frederica's on the crowded stairs, and her gaze suffused in hate. "_Three_," she growled.

Seeing her intent, Miko vaulted over the railing and landed between the two women. "Not on my watch," she spat, raising her fists. She countered the older woman's wild jabs without too much difficulty at first, but Tulle was growing desperate, and therefore more dangerous. A lucky hit caught Miko a glancing blow on the shoulder, and when the girl dropped back a step to regroup, Adelaide pressed the advantage. Drawing back her hand, she prepared to throw the blade. "_No_!" There was a blur of movement, and then Mr. Leander was there, shielding his adopted daughter. "Dad?" Miko whispered as the man staggered back, clutching the hilt protruding from his stomach. "Three! All three!" Tulle exulted, sweating and gasping. Miko caught Leander as he fell and from behind her there was an animalistic scream as Mrs. Leander threw herself at her husband's killer.

The sharp pop and rattle of gunfire sounded, and the People of the Lion began to drop. In the surge, Raf looked up and his eyes widened. '**Incoming**!' he mentally shouted to any who would hear him. Jack looked up as well, then let out a piercing whistle. "Clear the walltop!" he yelled, waving his arms, "Everybody down!" The throng was already beginning to scatter, dragging their dead and wounded to the shelter of nearby buildings. Looking over the edge of the wall, Jack saw a familiar silver-blue helm appear from a lower door in the Echelon building, accompanied by two unfamiliar Cybertronians. It was time to go, but with the city guard taking pot shots at the protestors, Jack felt torn. With the barrier down, there was nothing left to stop the Anta..._all_ the Anta.

Hearing the approaching thrum of engines, Optimus snatched Rafael from the balustrade and cradled him to his spark. "_Jack_!" he called sharply, as he reached out with his other hand. The young man's eyes darted between the huge Autobot and the deadly mayhem below. "I gotta get Miko!" he blurted, "Be right back!" Struggling, Jack fought his way down the narrow stairs, choked with bodies living and dead, and ducked under the line of riot shields that Sentry Fowler and his men had set up in an attempt to protect the civilians. **"K'anis!"** Jack slipped on the stones, slick with blood, and tried not to see the horror around him. _Human energon, Jack, that's all it is, _he tried to tell himself.

Miko knelt with a rifle in her grip, providing cover fire for the impromptu medic station June had set up. "What's the count, **Y'ats'a**?" she asked grimly. "Wha- the count?" Jack stared blankly at her. "The death count," Miko clarified. "How many dead?" The older teen blew out a breath and ran a bruised hand through hair still matted with dried blood. "Don't know. Fifteen. Twenty, maybe. Doesn't matter right now: we have to get everyone to shelter." He pointed towards the sky over the Forest, where three dark blurs were beginning to take shape. **'Optimus has Raf,'** he added, fluidly switching to Cybertronian,** 'I saw Arcee, I'm gonna make my way towards her. Grab whoever you can and get to the woods before those Seekers get to the wall.' **

He turned to his mother and kissed her forehead. "You're gonna have to run, Mom. You'll be safer in the Forest." June began to protest, but Miko reached over and squeezed her hand. "Forget everything they ever told you and run. It's gonna be okay." Pressing her lips together a moment, June bowed her head. "Okay," she said softly. Then her eyes hardened. "Sierra, Frederica, help me move the wounded. We're evacuating Jasper." Above them, the distant drone grew louder and the sky-shadows solidified into two small, sleek craft flanking one, massive disc-like shape. Jack's eyes widened. "Oh _scrap_! Megatron!" he hissed. "Gotta go, Mom!" He stood quickly and darted across the near-empty square to meet Arcee. "Arcee! We've got 'Cons on the way!" he skidded to a halt beside her.

She made a curt nod and signaled the black and gold femme. "Shepherd them out." Blackarachnia and Rattrap moved quickly, hands outstretched before them. "Come come come!" Blackarachnia clucked to the frightened people of Jasper. "This way, little ones, quickly!" They fled as the roar of the approaching enemy drowned out the panic of the crowd. Arcee knelt for a second, servos on Jack's shoulders. "Where's Tulle?" she demanded. "I- I don't know," he stammered, "She must've slipped away while the guards were firing on everyone." Arcee cursed under her breath and gathered her partner into her arms. "The timelines are converging, Jack. We have to get everyone together, _now_!"

The guards screamed and threw themselves off the wall left and right as Kaivolkalma and Yamatinnu strafed the walkways and walltops, cutting down the purple-garbed soldiers like stalks before the scythe. "Tear down the walls!" Kerythcor commanded. Gracefully, he pulled up and rolled left, avoiding a laser blast. "Don't you dare, cowards!" Bulkhead roared, firing repeatedly. Draug poured from the trees in the forms of beasts, snapping and snarling. **'Form up! Protect the humans!'** Alkare directed, gesturing with his Hyperflux cannon. The Cybertronians formed two lines, a channel between them, and shielded the fleeing survivors of Jasper with their own frames.

"Master, the Draug have thrown their lot in with the Raa," Yamatinnu rasped. His bright wings flashed in the sun as he transformed. "Do we attack?" His answer was a harsh negative. "Our quarrel is not with them. Find the blight. Root it out!" Far below, the ground began to shake as an unnatural light spread like a sickness from the halls of the Echelon building. Outside the walls, Optimus's optics narrowed. "Bumblebee! Take him," he growled, passing Rafael to the scout. The yellow mech squealed joyfully, taking a moment to press his forehead to his charge's. **'Welcome back, Ats'ka!' **he crowed.** 'Come on, lets get out of here!'**

* * *

Limping, bruised, Tulle scrambled down into the dark chamber. Gouts of liquified Dark Energon oozed _up_ the walls, seeping into every crack and seam. From the grate in the pit, shards of bone flew upward with a violent upheaval of a kind of solidified light, forming a hideous face. A voice, old and foul filled the air like fumes. _**"WHO DISTURBS MY SLUMBER?" **_it asked in a guttural tone. With a yelp, Tulle threw herself down before the pit, trembling. "Only I, mighty Unicron," she squeaked, "One who wishes you a chance for revenge upon the house of Prime!" Dark vapors swirled about the stale air, forming a single, evil eye.

**_"DISGUSTING CREATURE! WHAT NEED HAVE I OF YOUR HELP?"_** Violet smoke poured out of the pit, into Adelaide's ears, her nose, her eyes. Choking, gasping for air that was not poisoned, the magistrate gurgled, "Y-you are w-weak yet, m-my lord! I can o-o-offer you the b-blood of innocents- of the whole of J-jasper!" Her eyes rolled back in her skull, overshadowed by a purple glow as a blackened froth poured out of her mouth from her corrupted lungs_**. "I KNOW YOUR KIND. SELFISH, FRACTIOUS FIDGETS OF FLESH! YOU DO NOTHING FOR NOTHING: WHAT IS IT YOU WANT IN RETURN, WORM?"**_ The voice emanated from both the pit and Tulle's ruined throat, a slippery coldness filling her blood and wrapping around her heart.

Weakly, she managed one word. "I-im-m-mor-t-tal-i-ty!" And Unicron laughed. _**"YOU WISH FOR IMMORTALITY? THEN YOU MAY LIVE. YOU WILL BECOME PART OF MY LIFE FORCE!" **_The coldness spread, breaking, ruining, melting. Flesh curdled and fell away from bones, blood a sluggish black as Tulle was consumed. It was slow, clumsy, for the Sleeper had not the strength to fully awaken. There were no vocal cords left, no voice with which to scream, and diseased, unspeakable things dropped to the floor, squelching. And then it was over, and the bones of Adelaide Tulle rolled across the floor, dropping into the pit to join all her former victims.

Head Magistrate Tulle was dead.


End file.
